Fall Play Review
This year's fall play was The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. It was a comedic four act play that followed the lives of two men who called themselves Earnest in order to deceive those around them and help feed their greed for trivial things (like money, for example). Our director was Mr. Aronson, and something he often told us during rehearsal was that our character, though they always say the proper thing and are seemingly polite, that is not how they are on the inside. He really stressed that the characters are not actually good people and are two faced people. He also said that our characters are completely ridiculous and are well aware of how ridiculous, therefore are having fun with themselves. He said that the more we have fun with our characters the more the characters themselves will have fun, which is important because they are enjoying how they get to manipulate and mess with others. Cecily, for example, pretends to be very young and innocent but is very smart and enjoys her privileged life and ability to play others.
I thought Linda's performance of Lady Bracknell was really great. She had huge paragraphs of lines to say at a time but she spoke without rushing and her volume was loud enough that the audience could hear her. She moved and spoke onstage with authority as her character would. I thought her performance along with her bright costume commanded the same kind of attention that her character would. I thought Amelia's performance as Gwendolen was great as well. I loved how she was able to put her character into her whole body, from the way she stood to how she walked across stage. It was so fun to do the tea scene with her, because I felt that it was easier to be fully in character in a slightly more dramatic scene if your scene partner is fully in character too. She changed her tone of voice in a more commanding way because she was a "new woman" and came from a high social class. I thought that Helen was Mrs.Prism was hilarious and great. She moved in quick and small steps and spoke in a more frazzled tone, which was so perfect for Mrs.Prism and there were times I had to restrain myself from laughing, she was so good at it. Mrs. Prism enjoys being right but is kind of all over the place, which I thought was showcased very well, from the costume to her slightly anxious tone of voice.
We did not have any sound effects for the show, but we did have some scene change music. I thought that the scene change music was great because there wasn't a awkward silence while people were setting up for the next act. I also thought that the music kind of got us ready for each scene and put us in the mindset of "okay the next scene is starting". It also provided us with as cue as to when to start, which was very helpful. For lighting, we had the whole stage lit up so it was bright enough that the audience could see us no matter where they were sitting. This was hard to do, since characters were always entering and exiting but I think the lighting ended up looking good in the end. I know someone said that the lighting should have been darker when the scene was indoors and brighter when the scene changed to outdoors, which I thought was a cool point since I never thought of it that way before. The set design was made up of the rating triangles that had numbers on them so you could tell what order they went in. One side was painted to show a garden scene, another was painted as grey bricks to show a building, and the last one was painted a solid color. These triangles were cool because you could change the background of the scene just by rotating it and moving them around the stage. I thought that the coolest set was the one for Act I. I really loved how you could tell the time period just by looking at the set. The huge red chairs, table, mirror and various other objects made the performance even more convincing and real. For the other scenes, the set up was mostly the same with the white chairs and table, with the exception of the bench moving after Act II. I thought it was cool how we found benches and outdoor tables to make it more obvious were the scene was taking place, and it was really fun to act on a stage like it.
I think we did a really good job of knowing our places and bonding as a cast so that our show ran more smoothly. I think some of our weaknesses were memorizing lines fully and being more confident on stage. I think each of us portrayed our characters well and were able to tell as story to the audience. A weakness that we had was that in the heat of the moment, someone would forget their line and there would be a pause before the next line. I think by the third night of the show, we were the most confident we ever were, and the show ran very smoothly. I wish we had more show days, since time seemed to fly to quickly.
I learned a lot from being able to be a part of The Importance of Being Earnest and I feel incredibly lucky and humbled that I was given the chance to be able to work with a great cast and director.
I thought Linda's performance of Lady Bracknell was really great. She had huge paragraphs of lines to say at a time but she spoke without rushing and her volume was loud enough that the audience could hear her. She moved and spoke onstage with authority as her character would. I thought her performance along with her bright costume commanded the same kind of attention that her character would. I thought Amelia's performance as Gwendolen was great as well. I loved how she was able to put her character into her whole body, from the way she stood to how she walked across stage. It was so fun to do the tea scene with her, because I felt that it was easier to be fully in character in a slightly more dramatic scene if your scene partner is fully in character too. She changed her tone of voice in a more commanding way because she was a "new woman" and came from a high social class. I thought that Helen was Mrs.Prism was hilarious and great. She moved in quick and small steps and spoke in a more frazzled tone, which was so perfect for Mrs.Prism and there were times I had to restrain myself from laughing, she was so good at it. Mrs. Prism enjoys being right but is kind of all over the place, which I thought was showcased very well, from the costume to her slightly anxious tone of voice.
We did not have any sound effects for the show, but we did have some scene change music. I thought that the scene change music was great because there wasn't a awkward silence while people were setting up for the next act. I also thought that the music kind of got us ready for each scene and put us in the mindset of "okay the next scene is starting". It also provided us with as cue as to when to start, which was very helpful. For lighting, we had the whole stage lit up so it was bright enough that the audience could see us no matter where they were sitting. This was hard to do, since characters were always entering and exiting but I think the lighting ended up looking good in the end. I know someone said that the lighting should have been darker when the scene was indoors and brighter when the scene changed to outdoors, which I thought was a cool point since I never thought of it that way before. The set design was made up of the rating triangles that had numbers on them so you could tell what order they went in. One side was painted to show a garden scene, another was painted as grey bricks to show a building, and the last one was painted a solid color. These triangles were cool because you could change the background of the scene just by rotating it and moving them around the stage. I thought that the coolest set was the one for Act I. I really loved how you could tell the time period just by looking at the set. The huge red chairs, table, mirror and various other objects made the performance even more convincing and real. For the other scenes, the set up was mostly the same with the white chairs and table, with the exception of the bench moving after Act II. I thought it was cool how we found benches and outdoor tables to make it more obvious were the scene was taking place, and it was really fun to act on a stage like it.
I think we did a really good job of knowing our places and bonding as a cast so that our show ran more smoothly. I think some of our weaknesses were memorizing lines fully and being more confident on stage. I think each of us portrayed our characters well and were able to tell as story to the audience. A weakness that we had was that in the heat of the moment, someone would forget their line and there would be a pause before the next line. I think by the third night of the show, we were the most confident we ever were, and the show ran very smoothly. I wish we had more show days, since time seemed to fly to quickly.
I learned a lot from being able to be a part of The Importance of Being Earnest and I feel incredibly lucky and humbled that I was given the chance to be able to work with a great cast and director.
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