Religious Division
To an unfamiliar outsider, the services at a rural black Baptist church and a rural black Methodist church would likely be so similar as to be basically indistinguishable. To the congregations attesting to those two denominations, however, the difference might well be as wide as that between Catholics and Mormons. Not a whole lot of talk about the conflict between the town’s Baptists and Methodists occurs in that social networking discourse which forms the bulk of Act One. And then, right before the curtain closes the simmering denominational differences suddenly happens to catch fire a little bit.
Race
The theme of race is explored in the play in a way that many in the audience probably don’t expect. Since the conflict of the narrative revolves around religious differences and it is focused on members of a black community without a white figure to raise the specter of racism, the racial focus is more subtly explored through interaction with potential white audience members. The characters speak in what was known as “negro dialect” at the time it was written. The patois is singularly African-American and as such the rhythms, metaphors, diction and elocution is definitely at odds with the typical kind of dialogue found in the overwhelming number of plays produced in America. A white audience member is asked to identify with a culture milieu far outside that member’s norm. In other words, a white audience member is being asked to what African-American audiences have been asked to do since the invention of sound movies and television.
Social Networking
Long before Facebook and Twitter, the way people posted updates, shared memes, trolled and shared memories was by gathering someplace and talking. As with threads on social networks, these conversations didn’t have to mean anything special or lead anywhere in particular and quite often there was a repetitive sense to them, but it was that very repetition that strengthened the network. In a play with only the thinnest of plots, tone and atmosphere is everything and the tone and atmosphere of this play is one of voyeurism and eavesdropping. We are dropped into one of those small town gathering places during a get-together that isn’t particularly earth-shattering, but is entertaining. Watching Mule Bone likely an experience not totally dissimilar to logging onto a social networking site on a day when a conversation about not particularly much just suddenly happens to catch fire a little bit.