2008 Woodie Awards
UVM Theater Delivers with Set Design; Struggles with Dialogue
Theater becomes over ambitious with choice, but still puts on a well recieved play
Dana Keith
Issue date: 3/14/06 Section: Arts and Entertainment
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The performance takes place in a winter garden, (similar to a greenhouse), in the springtime and the stage is magnificently transformed with potted plants surrounding all sides of the stage, a decadent pale pink marble floor, two lacquered ramps creating a bi-level stage, and three sets of glass and gold-trimmed French doors covering the back wall of the proscenium.
The lighting for the show was inventive in its placement of backlights behind the French doors, adding a dimension of life to the offstage actions. For example, during the third and final act, there is a raucous Ball taking place at the home of Madame
Desmortes (played by Alli Shapiro) where the dramatic tensions of the plot are heightened. However, the audience never actually sees the Ball, but is encouraged to believe it by the suggestions of the lighting and the actor's physical movements between the offstage party and the onstage dramatic action.
Also adding to the plot's believability is the moonlight aura created during the nighttime scenes through subtle blue lighting effects. Because the play begins in the morning and continues until the following dawn, these visual accents supplement the audiences understanding of time and place.
While the visual aspects of the play were well arranged and functionally on key, the shortcomings however, were basic plot comprehensibility. As the scenic designer, Jeff Modereger pointed out, the play employs fun language and that is where the humor is; making sure the audience can hear everything is crucial. "This play is dependent on the words for character development," Modereger explained.
During the first of two intermissions, a middle-aged man and his wife approached me. Throwing his up hands in defeat, the gentleman asked if I could please explain what had taken place in Act I. He didn't understand the relationships between the characters, or where the randomly arrived working-class mother and daughter came from, or why one of the twin brothers was plotting against the other one. As I tried to answer all of his questions, I realized that I couldn't quite explain each character's role, or at what point in the plot the play was actually at.