The Shape of Things

Every once in a while we are let out of our offices and assorted places of work in order to better ourselves through the viewing of good theatre. Granted this was Jameson Theatre, Mason Gross' black box literally a block away from Walters Hall, but good theatre is definitely in order. Truth be told, some of our better productions take place in this space. A show such as Shape of Things tends to thrive better in a black box setting as it is.

Oh our fabulous second year director did it again. His use of transitions never ceases to amaze me. Transitions were a major flaw in Point's production a few years back...well the transitions resulting from a proscenium stage in a black box using levels anyway. Will manages to have the action continue through without causing a raised eye in the audience. A difficult task with several locations to accommodate in the show. Even more fascinating was the audience's reaction during Evelyn's presentation at the end (for those unfamiliar with the show, you will not find any spoilers here). One patron was so uncomfortable she outright laughed at the character the entire time. This is a small space...about 60 uncomfortable seats total. Everyone noticed her reaction. The actress played off her very well. You can sort of judge which camp this audience member fell into by her reaction, but I hope that discomfort lead to some serious thought. First time around I would have aligned myself with this patron. Now I sympathize with Evelyn all the more. Fascinating show.

A lot of the younger audience reacted very strongly scenes suggesting infidelity. Apparently the concept of someone cheating is touchier than I suspect. Some reaction is hopeful but there were audible gasps from several undergrads in the audience (I suspect a large number of tonight's audience were non-theatre students required to come for a theatre appreciation class...very few got the Othello reference). I tried to think of my initial reaction to these scenes, and I recall some disgust, but nothing that would have warranted a verbal response. Here I am sounding all technical and objective as if to evade a thought...which I do quite often. With "what if" running through my mind recently it really isn't surprising that I wouldn't react.