review by Mark Bedetti
3/10/17
Everyone’s A Critic
What makes
up a good play? It can be anything from the acting to the set design or even
mixture of everything. However, The Night
of the Iguana written by Tennessee Williams was truly a mixture of
everything from the incredible acting of an experienced cast to the simple yet
successful set. The play took place in a run-down inn on the Mexican coast on
the edge of the rainforest during the 1940s. At the beginning of the play, we
meet a few different groups of people from around the world. The manager of the
inn, Maxine Faulk, played by Dana Delany, was seen as the unhappy drunk who had
a negative attitude throughout the play. Bill Heck, also a fairly experienced
actor on the stage, played the role of Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon who was
followed through the production and the conflicts that he experienced while at
the inn and how he interacts with the other characters. Amanda Plumber, who has
also seen her fair share of experience in front of the camera and on stage,
played the role of Hannah Jelks, a watercolor painter from Nantucket who
traveled with her grandfather, Nonno, played by James Earl Jones. A group of
German tourists came up a few times in the play as another group staying at the
inn.
The acting
in The Night of the Iguana stood out
among the other pieces of the show to complete the puzzle of creating a five-star
production. Having such an all-star cast certainly added to this aspect of the
play. This was specifically true in the characters Hannah Jelks and Reverend
Shannon throughout the play. One specific time where their acting stood out was
in the extensive and dramatic story telling in the second act. This consisted
mainly of personal life dramas that seemed so realistic and relatable to a real
life situation nowadays. These stories were filled with comedic excerpts while
still keeping the mood throughout the play. Another element of the acting that
stayed solid throughout was the ability each actor and actress had to keep
character throughout to truly allow the audience to be enraptured in the
experience. Dana Delany did one of the best jobs at maintaining the personality
of Maxine contributing to the whole production.
Although
the set was never changed dramatically throughout the play, it was still able
to do its job at creating a realistic setting that went along tremendously with
the show. The main building that made up the inn itself was set up-stage on the
right with three doors for each room that the characters were staying in. The
building was browning and weathered showing age and how it was not in it’s best
shape. Salmon-colored tiles made up the floor space which was covered in a
hammock as well as various other rolling carts and tables. The perimeter of the
stage was a wall made up of large boulders that gave the location the effect of
being on the top of a ridge with the ocean on one side and the forest on the
other. A cyclorama was draped behind the set with changing colors and shades
according to the time of day and it tied in with the stellar lighting for
whatever might have been happening on stage. Along with the set, there were some
astounding special effects including real rain pouring down onto the actor and
the stage.
Every
element of The Night of The Iguana from
the acting, to the directing, and to the set design created an astonishing
piece of theater that will be remembered into the future as a top production
No comments:
Post a Comment