Where’s the iguana or his mind?

review by Katelynn Banville

March 10^th, 2017

Night of the Iguana

The play Night of the Iguana performed at the American Reparatory Theater in Cambridge had great set design but a confusing plot. Most plays have a plot that the audience can either assume or predict, but this play was partly all over the place. The beginning of the play was strong and enjoyable and then about half way through, the plot and interest was lost. It had an abrupt ending that didn’t seem to finish the play and it was very hard to understand what had happened up to that point.

            The play began strong and set up the character’s relationships well. It gave a small glance into each character’s life and personality. As the show progressed the character Mr. Shannon became what appears to be mentally ill, or slightly disturbed which kind of distracted the audience from the plot causing some confusion.  At first I understood this character’s purpose to the film but then with this personality change, it was hard to follow what he was thinking. Sometimes I would think he was being nice but would end up yelling or getting mad as if he didn’t like the person he was speaking to. This caused a loss of interest due to the confusion it caused.

            The set and effects used in this play added to the enjoyment. It made it easier to follow the play having it be in one set location where the set never changed. The set was of an area outside an older looking hotel in Mexico where you could only see rooms one, two and three. They had doors opening to the patio area which was used the most. They also optimized the space by having an L shaped stair case that allowed the actors to go to what appeared to be under the stage but was being represented as down to the beach as if the hotel was on a hill top. I think this staircase was very useful because it added a whole extra area, besides the rooms and the hotel office, where the characters could exit to. The storm scene on the set was incredible having it actually rain on the stage. It made it so realistic. The sound and the wind made it feel like a real rainstorm. You also wouldn’t expect for it to actually rain on the stage which was a nice added touch to the play.

            Although the play was well presented with the set, the plot could have been thought out in a clearer way. The first half of the play went over very well but a less intricate second half would make the play even better.