THE 1041C Theater Reviews

Walking into the BPAC, once again, I prepared myself for nothing spectacular, maybe a little over-acting, and by some luck, an overall good show. I believe I got exactly what I was expecting.

Unlike the other staged reading we had seen, this one was a little different because each time the actor(s) had to speak their lines they would maneuver their way up to the front of the stage to speak into the microphones. At first, I found this slightly odd and a little distracting from the overall experience, but after a while (as with all staged readings), I got used to it. But with this “tactic” of sorts, not a lot of the stage was used, which actually made the entire performance slightly boring.

The acting was definitely not included with the boring set design. One thing I can always depend on from the actors of the BPAC is great expression. Whether it was through their delivery of lines, their actions, or their facial expressions, the emotions the actors meant to convey were delivered seamlessly. One actor this was specifically true of was the woman who played Nora, Antoinette LaVechhia. She managed the difficult task of showing the different shades of feelings that Nora felt towards her husband, Torvald. Also, the costumes, or lack thereof, made the play somewhat more relatable. The actors were all dressed in their own clothes, ordinary shirts and slacks for the men, and dresses and skirts for the women. This, for me, also made the play a little boring. When I go in for a staged production of the story, I like being taken in to the world of that story, not the story coming into my world. Unfortunately, this failed to happen, but maybe that was the director’s aim.

All in all, A Doll’s House, was an interesting story, but I definitely enjoyed reading it more than I enjoyed the performance in BPAC.