For this hypothetical proposal of Susan Glaspell's Trifles, I feel it is very bold to go minimalist. The script calls for a lot of nit-picky props. It would be difficult for the audience to believe that a blank sheet of paper is a quilt that has different aspects to its design. Also since the quilt is a big part of the lie that the women tell the men, it would be asking too much from the audience. Then again I am an advocate of the more entertaining part of theatre that it should be enjoyable above all else. I can see the significance of plays that have an underlying meaning that it is trying to get across, and you can certainly find such a meaning in this play however, I also feel that some plays were genuinely made for entertainment. This is how I feel with this play. And making the audience do the designers job for them does little for its entertainment value. So yes. Very bold move going minimalist.
Having Trifles performed as a minimalist play would gain a better focus on the people like the director says but unfortunately would lose more by not having the "trifles" physically there. For example, not having the quilt that Minnie made to show the differences in the knitting styles takes away from the women undoing the "queer knitting" and resewing it to look normal. The abstract feel of the production would remain intact but would still seem cheap and sort of like bad pantomime.
I can imagine a play like Trifles being minimalist. All of the critical information would remain. It would just be in the dialogue. But for me including the props and the costumes just makes the transition from the real world to the world of Trifles go more smoothly.
