Physical Violence May Not Be The Answer...

... but it might be.

It depends on what the question is. What's the question?
I am not advocating for the elimination of the punching bag. I am pushing for an upgrade in ideas. The punching bag (like Rose) just suddenly appears in the mind of the play and the reality of the stage out of nowhere at practically the plays' end.

This big punching THING. It's a good THING. This big THING intended for punching. Tis a good image to have and the idea that this irrational chain of events that is the play and the parade is leading us
to a woman (does it have to be a woman?)
waking from a terrible dream
putting on her boxing gloves,
preparing to punch this THING that was built to be PUNCHED
as an example of how somehow we could have avoided the situation of
a pregnant woman being punched in the stomach
and
for that PUNCHING BAG to not be PUNCHED
well that's good.

The PUNCHING BAG SHOULD BE PUNCHED. that's what it was made for. Just as theatre was made to show us our foibles and atrocities, punching bags were made to be punched.
The fact that it is NOT punched in this play is GOOD good god that is GOOD.... but what would make it better
to my way of thinking
is that if we get to see Bea NOT PUNCH it... often...
because if she did
uptight director PUNCH BACK
petulant designer PUNCH BACK
chicken salad sandwich PUNCH BACK
starbucks PUNCH BACK
if she did PUNCH BACK
that THING that's meant to be PUNCHED, than impersonal THING designed to abosrb that shock
then she wouldn't PUNCH what is not meant to be PUNCHED

but if that THING is non-existent in the mind of the play up until that point... then the audience doesn't get the experience of
"when is somebody going to punch that fucking thing?"
instead what they get is
"oh a new thing on stage"

I am pushing for that THING to be present. For it to be addressed. If the Chekhov cliche is that if you introduce a gun in act one then you have to use it by act three... well then you need to introduce the gun in act one. So if you want the image of a punching bag in a spotlight at the end of this particular play... then I push for you having the image of a punching bag in a spotlight at the beginning of this particular play.

It is addressed once
MOMMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT
and then
DO THE RIGHT THING
ignored.
It is not woven into the fabric of the play. It's tacked on. Weave it in.