Bushnell Review/#21
As I had already researched for the play Warriors Don't Cry before I got to see the one-person play, I started thinking about how did the play would be like on my way to the theater. I've never seen a play performed by only one person and this was really attractive to me. In my mind, I thought the play would at least have a narration behind the stage introducing different characters or explaining a plot of the story. To my surprise, however, the whole play was literally performed and even guided by an actress by transferring between characters and changing within voices. Although there were some confusing parts, I still thought it was a successful performance.
Since it was a one-person play, I knew it was really hard for a person to switch between characters in one body. The actress did really well in performing characters such as the young Melba, Melba's grandmother, and the Guard named Danny. The character Melba was pretty distinct, for the actress performed her by the body languages and Melba's childish and high voice. She stood up, sat down, jumped out and even circled around. For Melba's grandmother, the actress used a cracked voice and slowed down actions to perform this old lady. As for the Guard Danny, she then stood straight and spoke with a deep voice. The rest of the characters were all impressive, but these three stood out most and left me a deep impression.
One good thing about the blocking was the simple furniture. The whole stage was simply decorated by a bench, a table and dark curtains that provided more space for the actress to perform. However, what was disappointing to me was that the play could have launched more dancing and singing parts to make the performance more "alive"; otherwise, it would be kind of boring and the audience might fall asleep.
After the play ended, the actress said she had been playing this for four years. But one thing I noticed was that there were some mistakes in lines when the actress was speaking. I don't know what happened with the memorization, but these mistakes could hardly be hidden, which made us confused. Overall, however, it was still a good play telling a story about fighting against segregation in a segregated era.
Since it was a one-person play, I knew it was really hard for a person to switch between characters in one body. The actress did really well in performing characters such as the young Melba, Melba's grandmother, and the Guard named Danny. The character Melba was pretty distinct, for the actress performed her by the body languages and Melba's childish and high voice. She stood up, sat down, jumped out and even circled around. For Melba's grandmother, the actress used a cracked voice and slowed down actions to perform this old lady. As for the Guard Danny, she then stood straight and spoke with a deep voice. The rest of the characters were all impressive, but these three stood out most and left me a deep impression.
One good thing about the blocking was the simple furniture. The whole stage was simply decorated by a bench, a table and dark curtains that provided more space for the actress to perform. However, what was disappointing to me was that the play could have launched more dancing and singing parts to make the performance more "alive"; otherwise, it would be kind of boring and the audience might fall asleep.
After the play ended, the actress said she had been playing this for four years. But one thing I noticed was that there were some mistakes in lines when the actress was speaking. I don't know what happened with the memorization, but these mistakes could hardly be hidden, which made us confused. Overall, however, it was still a good play telling a story about fighting against segregation in a segregated era.
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