When it comes to interaction between two people or a conversation, you can at times get a feel or an idea what are the two people conversing about just solely based either only on one of two parties reactions and/or responses. This particularly occurs in the play "Alone in Triptych". The three elements of theatre that really stood out to me from this play are the acting, writing and sound.
For the first element; the acting really stood out to me. Leeann played Vera Beren, Lori played by Catherine Porter, and Remi played Michael Tomlinson all were quite believable. What is quite interesting about this play is although there are three characters, they never interact with one another. All three have a story to tell and they all do it alone. What worked about it was that even though each actor worked in a scene in solitude you still caught a glimpse of the story. What didn't worked was there were certain points in the play when more than one character was on the stage all while still focusing on only one of the characters story. The other character would be moving around in silence and getting involved in a certain action. This came off a bit confusing as well as it was distracting. The minor character at the time should have simply stayed put in order for the audience to solely focus on the main character and the storyline that is being told in the moment.
The writing was the second element that stood out to me. Renee Phillippi (writer) put something together that seemed quite realistic. The story deals with people coming to terms with the people in their lives and/ or their own personal demons. Rape, physical abuse, kidnapping and death all plays a part in which a way it allows you to sympathize for the characters whether good or bad. What worked is that it was written in a way where anyone or everyone in the audience could possibly relate to the situation. It shows us that we aren't alone in our struggles. What slightly didn't work was how non-convincing the character Remi's motives were. Remi kidnaps his friends daughter to protect her from the danger of the outside world. There was no evidence given to the story or backstory that the little girls parent (Remi's friend) wasn't doing enough to protect his/her daughter. It came off a bit odd that he felt that he was the one to do the job, only resulting in her accidental death which in reality has made him unsuccessful in his plan to protect her. The writer should have provided backup reasons why Remi felt he was the only one that could have save his friend daughter in order to solidify his motive.
The sound design was the third element that stood out to me. Vera Beren (Sound Designer) who also plays the character Leann really gave the viewers what was happening just based solely on the sound. Whether it was a knock, gun shot, scream, you name it, there wasn't a lost moment in the plot. The sounds were well synchronized with the actors movements. What worked about it is that it gave a glimpse of the expression f how people can be suffering in their own isolation; hence the one person scenes. There wasn't a moment where it came across that something didn't worked when it came to the sound. Aside from Vera from actually being the most convincing actress, she didn't lack any skills in the sound department.
In conclusion, the production served the community in a way to tell us that at the beginning signs of drama it is best to clear of the situation. In most cases signs of what's to come were already presented when it comes maybe with the character Leann and her husband who had happened to rape an underage girl and Lori who marries an abusive cop but they just ignored it. Now they later have found themselves in the turmoil they are in. As far as Remi, maybe the friend whom he kidnap his daughter from could have had no idea that this would have happened. For instance guys like Remi are better at hiding that particular flaw about themselves but then again like the aforementioned there was something lacking to support his motives anyway. Moral of the story is get out while you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment