THE 1041C Theater Reviews

I came into the BPAC with somewhat of a lack of excitement, expecting to see a production similar to Medea. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the acting and the conviction of the actors. I felt that what set this play apart for me was the strong, but not overbearing or seemingly fake, emotion portrayed by the characters, particularly Nora. The talent of the actors really made it seem as if they were acting more than they were reading, which is an incredibly difficult thing to do when you don’t have the text memorized. At certain points it was almost like watching a movie, I was really absorbed into the content of the play. Perhaps I also favored this play just in terms of its content and it being more modern and relatable than Medea. I could better understand the themes it portrayed and was more familiar with its language.

Like I previously stated, Nora, played by Antoinette LaVecchia, was portrayed in an incredibly convincing manner. Her speech was well projected and emotion was placed in all the right places. It appeared as if she did not even need the text to refer back to because she was so smooth and graceful in terms of bringing the text from the page onto the stage.

The other characters of Helmar and Kragstead were equally convincing. Kragstead also portrayed emotion well; his body language and tone of voice always matched the content of the text.

One criticism I have is with the character of Christine, played by Dominique Plaisant, which I found to be somewhat timid and expressing less emotion when compared to the other characters. There were times when I could barely hear what she was saying. While the acting seemed to be good, I still found the character of Nora more appropriately portrayed and generally more believable.

I have another criticism in terms of setting and use of space. I found the movements on stage to be a little awkward, as the characters walked through pretend doors and into pretend rooms. They would make these confusing walks on the stage that were meant to portray them leaving the room, but they were still on stage. Also, some of the announcements of the narrator seemed a little choppy and brought me back from being absorbed in the play, to just being an observer in a theatre. It’s understandable that this is not a large-scale production, but I feel the space could’ve been used a little better. Maybe if the narrator was offstage and said, “The doorbell rang” or made a ringing sound, it would have been less intrusive and choppy. Nevertheless, although there were no fancy sets or costumes, which I’ve made clear that I’m a fan of, I still enjoyed this play due to the overall quality of the acting.