The Secret Garden Dramaturgy Project Blog Post #4: Come to My Garden

With the show about to open, it's time for one final dramaturgy post! I've talked a lot about my research, the background and context of the show/book, and the psychological analyses/interpretations of the messages and themes in this story. Something I've touched on before, but not gone too in-depth on yet, is how the show compares and contrasts with the original novel. While mostly telling the same story, by-and-large, their are a few key differences.

First, it's important to lay the foundation of understanding about the book itself. The novel, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, was originally published in a serial format. The story was divided into ten monthly issues and published in The American Magazine from November 1910-August 1911. After all the issues had been released, they were compiled and re-published as a single novel in August of 1911 by the Frederick A. Stokes Company. 

Even in its initial serial run, The Secret Garden was accompanied by illustrations (in the serial run, they were done by artist J. Scott Williams). This has been a recurring theme with re-publications of the novel. In 1962, a version of the book was published along with the oil painting illustrations of Tasha Tudor. Inga Moore released her abridged version of the novel in 2008 along with her own illustrations.

Lily (Lorna Baxter) in OSU's Production of The Secret Garden.

Burnett lived in the city of Kent in England for a number of years, and she has often cited her visits to the local Buile Hill Park as inspirations for the novel. Buile Hill Park is located on an estate called Maytham Hill, and this is also likely the inspiration for Misselthwaite Manor in the book. In addition, Burnett herself actually tend a rather large garden, including a rose garden.

The themes of rejuvenation and physical and mental recovery through positive thinking and being in nature do not come solely from Burnett's love of gardens. She was also influenced by the ideas of Christian Science movement during the 1880s. In Christian Science, an important tenet is the belief in healing oneself through prayer and positive thought, and this can be seen reflected in the novel when Dickon, Mary, and Colin use a "magic chant" to heal Colin of his psychosomatic paraplegia.

The musical's script and lyrics were written by Marsha Norman, while the music was written by Lucy Simon. It premiered in West Virginia in 1989, where it was put on by the Virginia Stage Company. In 1991, the show opened on Broadway, where it ran for two years, having over 700 performances. Since then, the show has also been produced in Sydney in 1995, and twice on the West End (once in 2001 and again in 2016). At the 1991 Tony Awards, it won Best Book of a Musical, Best Scenic Design, and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (for Daisy Eagan, who played Mary). At the time, Eagan was the youngest person to receive the award, at just 11 years old.

Mary (Elliette Barlow) and Dickon (Jacob Hungerford) in OSU's Production of The Secret Garden.

When the novel was adapted into a musical, the story did go through a few key changes. Probably the most pronounced one is that, in the novel, there is far more focus placed on Mary and Colin. Archibald makes appearances in the novel, but he is not one of the central characters like he is in the show. Additionally, the memories/ghosts of Mary's parents and Lily are likewise not focused on like they are in the show.

In the musical, Archibald has a leading role, with a comparable amount of songs to Mary or Colin. Lily also frequently appears and has many songs of her own. There are substantial segments of the show in which Mary and Colin do not appear onstage while Archibald and Lily sing their songs. Mary's parents also appear a fair amount of times throughout the show, but their roles are much smaller in the novel.

Another big change is the antagonistic role of Dr. Neville Craven in the play. There is a "Dr. Craven" in the novel, however he is only a distant cousin of Archibald. He is mentioned as being in line to inherit the manor if Colin were to die, but he still attends to him to the best of his abilities and does not seek to send Mary off to a boarding school or claim Misselthwaite for himself. In addition, there is no mention of his unrequited love for Lily nor his jealousy towards Arhibald being the object of Lily's affections like he does in the show.

Archibald (Dylan Lewis) and Dr. Neville Craven (Michael Eclevia) in OSU's Production of The Secret Garden.

A minor difference is that, in the novel, Lily's name is Lilias, and she was not sisters with Rose. Instead, she was the sister of Mary's father. She was still Arhibald's wife and the mother of Colin. This was likely done in an attempt to strengthen Lily's matrilineal connection to Mary through her mother. 

As aforementioned, the novel focuses far more heavily on Mary and Colin than it does on the adult characters. As a result, we see a lot more of Mary and Colin in the early stages of their character arcs, where they are still more selfish and suffer from their developmental issues. We see their transformations happen in more detail. In the show, we don't spend quite as much time with them, and, therefore, we spend less time with them in their more bratty, early stages where they still haven't recovered from their respective developmental traumas yet.

Mary (Elliette Barlow and Colin (Natalie Harris) in OSU's Production of The Secret Garden.

In fact, the novel's extended time spent with Mary and Colin allows us to view their trauma and developmental problems a lot better than the show. The show still does focus on their mental and physical recoveries, but the focus is often shifted on the state of the garden, the songs of the servants, and, most prominently, how Archibald himself recovers from the loss of his wife. 

In conclusion, although the story is largely the same one, there are a few big changes between the musical and novel that shift the focus of the narrative a fair amount.

Bibliography for this blog post

1. “Buile Hill Park.” Salford City Council, Gov.UK, www.salford.gov.uk/builehill.

2. Burnett, Frances Hodgson. “The Secret Garden.” The American Magazine, Nov. 1910, pp. 17–32.

3. Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden. M. L. Kirk, 1911.

4. Norman, Marsha, and Lucy Simon. “The Secret Garden.” 1989.

“Buile Hill Park.” Salford City Council, Gov.UK, www.salford.gov.uk/builehill.

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. “The Secret Garden.” The American Magazine, Nov. 1910, pp. 17–32.

“The Secret Garden.” Playbill, Playbill Inc, www.playbill.com/show/detail/4178/the-secret-garden.

5. “The Secret Garden.” Playbill, Playbill Inc, www.playbill.com/show/detail/4178/the-secret-garden.

“Buile Hill Park.” Salford City Council, Gov.UK, www.salford.gov.uk/builehill.

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. “The Secret Garden.” The American Magazine, Nov. 1910, pp. 17–32.

“The Secret Garden.” Playbill, Playbill Inc, www.playbill.com/show/detail/4178/the-secret-garden.

The Secret Garden Dramaturgy Project Blog Post #3: Winter's on the Wing

A major aspect of The Secret Garden is the theme of renewal and growth. It's present in the characters arcs of Mary and Colin in both the novel and the musical, but the musical also puts more emphasis on the way some of the adult characters (particularly Archibald) experience a sense of revitalization in their lives. There are many different schools of thought to view these transformations from.

Mary and Colin's character arcs mostly focus on their growth and transformation from “unhealthy” people (literally in Colin’s case and more metaphorically in Mary’s) into healthy ones.
The problems they each have are shaped by their parents, and the secret garden itself, (both literally and symbolically) represents the cure for their ailments.

Colin is literally sick (or at least he believes he is). He believes that he is unable to walk and that he will develop the same condition as his father. This is compounded by his father’s obsessive fear that he will lose his son like he lost his wife. In the play, Dr. Craven also plays a part in Colin's continued stagnant and lack of progress in his medical recovery. By locking Colin away in his room and not permitting him to go outside, Dr. Craven stifles Colin's road to recovery. He continually asserts that Colin is very ill when medically, he is actually fine. 

This is what is known as a "psychosomatic" disease. A person can develop psychosomatic medical conditions if they psychologically reinforce to themselves that they are legitimately sick. In Colin's case, his father, Dr. Craven, and, to a lesser extent, the staff that tend to him all reinforce to him that he is still ill over and over again, and this leads to Colin's body actually believing he has developed these symptoms.

Whether or not Colin was actually born with some physical birth defect that prevented him from walking isn't exactly clear (I don't exactly trust Dr. Craven's medical assessment of Colin), but what I think is evident is the fact that Colin is medically healthy at this point. He simply has been conditioned to believe that he cannot walk.

Artist's rendering of Mary and Colin in Colin's room. Oil painting by Tasha Tudor, 1962.

Colin needs to be freed of this negative psychological environment, and Mary helps him realize this by bringing him to the garden. In the garden, he learns to be independent from his father’s neuroticism and become his own person, which allows him to discover he can walk. 

Mary is physically fine, but she has some psychological issues. She was raised in an environment which fostered in her an over-inflated sense of self-importance. Her parents had servants tend to her every whim and wish in India. This is why acts in a very spoiled manner for a lot of the play, especially in the first half.

The lack of attendants obeying her every command in Misselthwaite is a rude awakening for her. Ben, Dickon, and Martha in particular all help her learn to respect people of lower classes. Instead of doing things for her, they often teach her how to do them (like when Dickon teaches her to speak to the bird). 

Child neglect is known to be a major setback in the development of a child’s psychology. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development, and Sigmund Freud’s research on psychology all note that neglect can have a major negative impact on a child’s morality, ego, sense of belonging, and general psychological well-being. The sense of belonging and positive mental outlooks that Mary and Colin both develop by the play’s end are results of them healing from the child neglect they suffered by finding value in interacting with one another. 

Another important component of Mary’s and Colin’s healing is their new-found sense of companionship. At first, they are often at odds with one another, and they have a number of spats. But, as they get to know one another better, they each begin to grow from their friendship. By developing a healthy, mutual friendship, Mary and Colin grow as people and are able to better themselves. What Mary needs is to learn how to be selfless and to care for someone else. What Colin needs is someone who actually cares for his physical and mental well-being without projecting their own fears and insecurities onto him. Interpersonal relationships and social connection are recognized by many psychologists as vital parts of healthy psychological development in children (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs places it in the middle of the pyramid, as the third-most important stage).

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow's theory proposes that a person must psychologically "ascend the pyramid" in order in order to attain self-actualization. Each rank represents a new stage in psychological development.

The garden itself is, once again, a metaphor for their neglect. As they heal and their friendship blossoms, so too does the garden. For Mary, the garden represents a place where she can be free and learn to take care of herself. For Colin, the garden is a place where he can both physically and psychologically heal from the trauma and neglect of his early years.

The garden is also a vital part of Archibald's character arc. For the entire play, he is haunted by Lily's ghost, and he is unable to let go of her memory. As a result, he is often very depressed and spends almost no time with his son. It reaches a point where he has to leave Misselthwaite just because Mary's eyes remind him of Lily's.

Artist's rendering of Dickon, Mary, and Colin in the garden. Oil painting by Inga Moore, 2010.

Archibald seals off both the garden and Colin after Lily's death, because they each remind him of her too much. Only when he returns to Misselthwaite at the end of the play and enters the garden does he fully heal from the loss of Lily. In the final scene, Archibald learns to let go of the past. Instead of mourning the loss of Lily, he celebrates her memory by finally embracing both her garden and his son.

Bibliography for this post

1. Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden. M. L. Kirk, 1911.

2. Kim, Sanghag, et al. “From Parent-Child Mutuality to Security to Socialization Outcomes: Developmental Cascade Toward Positive Adaptation in Preadolescence.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, Bentham Science Publishers and BioMed Central, 10 Aug. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4840872/.

3. Maslow, Abraham Harold. "A Theory of Human Motivation." Psychological review 50.4 (1943): 370.

4. Minuchin, Salvador, et al. "A Conceptual Model of Psychosomatic Illness in Children: Family Organization and Family Therapy." Archives of general psychiatry 32.8 (1975): 1031-1038.

5. Norman, Marsha, and Lucy Simon. “The Secret Garden.” 1989.

The Secret Garden Dramaturgy Project Blog Post #2: Exploring the Garden

I gave my dramaturgy presentation on Monday, Jan. 27th (I had to do it a little later than was ideal because I was in a play in Eugene and we were rehearsing/performing during nearly every rehearsal time for The Secret Garden up till that point). In the presentation, I displayed all the work I had completed up to that point. I knew I was presenting during their rehearsal time, so, for the sake of efficiency, I decided to keep my presentation around 30-45 minutes. Of course, I intend to do even more research on this project and flush out my dramaturgy project as a whole for the rest of the term, continuing to do whatever other research Anthony or anyone else needs from me.

As for the presentation itself, I included slides on all of the things that Anthony wanted me to research (as aforementioned in my previous blog post). The topics were wide-ranging, but I did find a common theme throughout most of the research I did, with a general thesis statement for my dramaturgy project as a whole being: "The Secret Garden is an rejuvenating transformation from fragile dependency into exuberant self-liberation."

I'll include a link to my entire presentation in this blog post, but I'll go a little in-depth on some of the information I presented on here, as well.

One of the topics Anthony wanted me to research was the connection between the events of the play/book and the Christian Science & New Thought movements. Christian Science is a movement that originated in late 19th Century England. Its central text is the book “Science and Health” by Mary Baker Eddy, published in 1875. The basic principle of the movement is the idea that illness can be cured through prayer and devotion to God. New Thought is a similar movement which began in the United States during the 19th Century. Many attribute the origins of the movement to the writings of Phineas Quimby (who was inspired by Eddy’s writings). Its central philosophy is “This purpose and these principles emphasized the immanence of God, the divine nature of man, the immediate availability of God’s power to man, the spiritual character of the universe, and the fact that sin, human disorders, and human disease are basically matters of incorrect thinking.” (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica).


Cover of the central text of the Christian Science movement, "Science and Health," by Mary Baker Eddy (she was Mary Baker Glover when she published the book, but later re-married Asa Gilbert Eddy), published in 1875.

In both the book & the play, Colin, Dickon, and Mary celebrate the magic of the garden and perform chants about it. This can be seen as an analogy for the principles of prayer healing found in Christian Science. Colin’s ability to literally cure his ailment through mental positivity connects directly with the principles of New Thought. Mary becomes a better person and “heals” from changing her perspective to a more positive one. Frances Hodgson Burnett herself was influenced by Christian Science during the late 1880s, so I believe the connection between these movements and the novel is deliberate. It's not overt enough to be propaganda-like, but some of Burnett's messages in this piece can be seen as endorsements of the ideals and philosophies associated with these movements.


Picture of Phineas Quimby, primary founder of the New Thought movement. Quimby was inspired by Eddy's writings and the Christian Science movement in general.

Anthony also wanted me to compare The Secret Garden with the Netlflix series, The Haunting of Hill House. He said that the themes of trauma, mental health, and the occult as they are presented in that show have some connections with the vision he had for The Secret Garden. It also has some similarities with the visual aesthetic that Anthony said he was adopting for the show.

The Haunting of Hill House is based on/inspired by the horror novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson, published in 1959. The basic premise of the novel is that a doctor interested in paranormal activity and the occult invites several people to live in a house with him and supernatural horror ensues. The Netflix show is an anthology series, and it began airing in 2018 (only the first season is based on the book). The show does have some similarities to The Secret Garden. Mary comes to a new unfamiliar house, she hears wailing and screaming at night, and the people who live there act pretty suspiciously about things at first; this has a lot in common with the plot points of The Hauntinf of Hill House. In addition, the wallpaper and general aesthetic of Misselthwaite that Anthony has envisioned does look pretty similar to the sets of the Netflix series.

Image from an episode of The Haunting of Hill House. The designs of the carpet and general aesthetic of the house is similar to what Anthony had in mind for the Misselthwaite set pieces of The Secret Garden.

Another topic Anthony wanted me to research was the Sixth Cholera Epidemic (the event that claims the lives of Mary's parents and her servants in the beginning of the play). Cholera is a bacterial infection of the intestine and some of its symptoms include: diarrhea, vomiting, muscle cramps, and severe dehydration (this is how the disease usually kills its victims). Although treating the disease is fairly easy in developed nations nowadays, in the developing world (specifically in India and countries in West & Central Africa) it still can be very fatal. Even today, it is estimated that cholera causes approx. 130,000 deaths a year, and it poses a significant threat to communities and individuals in areas of the world that lack easy access to advanced medical care. During the time of The Secret Garden, medical treatments for cholera had yet to be fully developed, so its mortality rate was much higher.

Historically, there have been seven major Cholera Pandemics. The Sixth Cholera Pandemic occurred from 1899-1923. It began in India, specifically in the cities of Calcutta and Bombay. It later spread all over many other parts of the world, including Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa. In total, it killed over 800,000 people. 

“There were 189,955 cholera deaths in India in 1904. Between 1905 and 1908, there was an average of about 526,000 deaths each year; there were nearly 150,000 deaths in the 1906 Kumbh Mela at Allahabad during this phase and the mela is also considered to have contributed to the epidemic.” (Dasgupta 104).

A mela is a cultural event in India similar to a fair or large gathering, and the term is used to refer to a wide variety of different types of gatherings. The Kumbh Mela is specifically a very major Hindu religious festival. It is celebrated once every 12 years and it involves being ceremonially dipped in a river; it’s widely believed that exposure to that bacteria, especially at such a densely-populated festival, is one of the major ways this outbreak spread.

French map of the spread of the Sixth Cholera Epidemic in Europe, the Middle East, and West Asia, circa 1911.

I'll speak more on my research in later posts, but, for now, I also wanted to talk a little bit about my experience sitting in on rehearsal for the show and how it relates to my dramaturgy project. The first time I sat in on a rehearsal for The Secret Garden was on Feb. 17th. They performed a full run of the show, with a keyboard accompaniment for the music. First of all, I was very impressed with the vocal talent of all of the cast, as well as the acting talent of the principles. The majority of students in the show are from the Music department, and I simply hadn't had the opportunity to see what they could do on stage before. There were a few technical difficulties with holds during some of the set changes, but other than that, the show looks to be in good shape.

I certainly noticed parallels between the thesis I had envisioned for my dramaturgy project and the show. The general sense of growth and rejuvenation that Colin and Mary feel throughout the show is very evident. I also think it can be applied to Archibald, and even Ben Weatherstaff and other more minor characters. Even Dr. Craven goes through a certain degree of rejuvenation and positive change at the end of the show. The general aesthetic of the Misselthwaite set pieces certainly reminded me of the decorum from the house in The Haunting of Hill House, and the parts of the show where they talk about the cholera epidemic (although brief) do allude to it spreading through the water and rapidly killing large numbers of people in Mary's house in India. 

The chants and mystical elements of the garden that feature most prominently in the second half of the show certainly do call to mind parallels with the beliefs of the Christian Science & New Thought movements. Dickon, Mary, and Colin all do a magic chant together in the garden at one point, and it seemed very reminiscent of what I understand of the faith healing rituals and other occult-like rites that are associated with Christian Science & New Thought.

As I attend more rehearsals, I'll continue to post more of my research here, along with the parallels I see between it and the show itself.

Link to my full presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZI-3fSLGWC-OwZQaBiZghaxdnRQ4tBzqaJJOtOeJi5E/edit?usp=sharing

Bibliography for this post

1. Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden. M. L. Kirk, 1911.

2. Dasgupta, R. “Time Trends of Cholera in India: An Overview .” INFLIBNET, shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/19328/7/07_chapter%203.pdf.

3. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “New Thought.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1 May 2018, www.britannica.com/event/New-Thought.

4. The Haunting of Hill House. Created by Mike Flanagan, season 1, episode 1-10, www.netflix.com/title/80189221.

5. Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House. Viking, 1959.

6. Norman, Marsha, and Lucy Simon. “The Secret Garden.” 1989.

7. “What Is New Thought?” New Thought Beliefs, New Thought Facts, New Thought History and New Thought News = New Thought INFO about New Thought Today -, New Thought Library, 2015, www.newthought.info/what-is-new-thought.htm.

The Secret Garden Dramaturgy Project Blog Post #1: This Is Just the Beginning!

I had heard of dramaturgs before, but I was never really sure exactly what the position entailed. I knew it had something to do with doing a lot of writing on a show, but I didn't realize the extent of the position before I began this project. Needless to say, I learned pretty quick how much work and research a dramaturg has to do.

The show I'm acting as the dramaturg for is OSU Theatre's Winter Main Stage production of The Secret Garden, a musical written by Marsha Norman (script and lyrics) and Lucy Simon (music), based on the book of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. At OSU, the show is being directed by Anthony Eversole of the OSU Music department, and featured actors and actresses from both the Theatre and Music major programs.

A dramaturg's role is to research the show and become a consultant for the director, designers, costumers, cast, crew, and really anyone else involved in the production on matters related to the show's central themes, historical context, elements related to the director's conceptual approach for the show, and other related things. This means that my job was mostly to do as much research as I could on the show and then share it with all those who were involved with the show.

The first thing I had to do before the majority of my research was a little costume research for our department's costumer, DeMara Cabrera. Specifically, DeMara wanted to know about "Military uniforms of that period [early 20th century, specifically 1911], in India — specifically, the different means of distinguishing rank," "Undergarments of the period for young women (England)," and "information on traditional Indian attire for women in the era."  This turned out to be a pretty big learning experience for me in terms of how to find really accurate sources. The first couple times I researched this information for DeMara, I ended up sending her info that was inaccurate for the time period or was otherwise unreliable. After the first couple tries, I actually found what she was looking for.

Here's a few of the accurate images of the aforementioned costuming-related subjects that I ended up using in my presentation:

British Colonial Military uniforms in 1911




British Colonial Military rank insignias in 1911



English women's undergarments in 1911



Indian women's attire in 1911

After having to re-do this research a few times, I realized how seriously one needs to take this research. There is a LOT of Google Image results from sites like Pinterest or Imgur that are just too unverifiable in origin to be appropriately used for true scholarly research. The same thing goes for the websites I could list as sources that I found using normal Google searches; many of them are published by random people who's credibility cannot always be verified. A lot of them look very professionally made, or use language and rhetoric that sounds very academic, so they may seem legitimate at first glance. However, on closer inspection, the information on a lot of these sources was just too unverifiable to be used in my research. Although this was a hiccup on my part, I'm glad that it at least happened very early on in the process, before most of my other research.

Not long after doing that research for DeMara, Anthony sent me a list of subjects that he was interested in having me research for the show. Specifically, the topics he wanted me to research were:

1. Mary and Colin’s transformations.
2. The "Christian Science” and “New Thought" underpinnings that are present in the source material. The ideology that positive thought is a cure-all for physical ailments is prevalent in the story.
3. The racist undertones of the source material. What does India and the Indian characters represent in the story? What does Yorkshire and Whiteness represent? How (if at all) did the musical’s creative team push back against that racism?
4. The elements of mental health present in the story; Archibald’s depression. What does it cause him to do? What decisions does he make because of it? 
5. The sexism of the novel, referring to Colin as being “hysterical," and specifically the Freudian elements of this concept that feminize him.
6. The opposition of India to the manor house to the garden. What does each locale represent?
7. Themes of haunting and the occult (vs simply issues of mental health representing the hauntings?) Specifically, how they are presented in the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, as the themes of trauma and mental health vs the occult in that show were very similar to Anthony's take on the production of The Secret Garden.
8. The necessity of human companionship
9. The effect of the landscape on human transformation and healing
10. Secrets
11. The sixth Cholera epidemic, and how it affects the characters (especially its effect on Colonial India).
12. British Colonialism and its effect of Indian native culture. Slavery vs. Indentured servitude vs. “employment” — where does it fall on the spectrum?
13. The impact of neglect on children, and, more specifically, how Mary and Colin both suffer from it
14. How the additions to the story by the musical's creative team (ie the Archie/Neville/Lily love triangle; Neville’s desire to take over the manor, etc) impact the story.
15. Class differences (Yorkshire natives vs Manor inhabitants/Indian natives vs British Colonists)

Obviously, this list is fairly extensive, however I found in my research that a lot of these topics and themes shared a lot of overlap, and that helped with a large part of my research. In fact, in approaching this research, I developed a pretty strong thesis that I think ties a lot of these threads together: "The Secret Garden is an rejuvenating transformation from fragile dependency into exuberant self-liberation."

When I presented to the cast, I made slides for all the research that I had done up to that point on all of these topics, but I also understood that my work would not end there. There was a lot more research that I could do on these subjects and other things related to the show. I'll share a lot more of that research (as well as my full, actual Dramaturgy analysis itself) in one of my future posts here on this blog. But, I think that's enough for my introductory post anyway!