We saw this a few weeks ago at the Hilberry Theater in Detroit. I have probably seen it at least three times, but in the right hands, it is always enjoyable. And this production was great.
Except for a staging problem. In order to absorb the rain they wanted to use in a scene, they covered the stage with gravel. It was very annoying to have the crunch of gravel in every scene. And then the gravel began to develop mold so they tried to bleach the mold and nearly killed off one audience with the fumes.
But the crunch of gravel will always cement my memory of watching a top-notch production in a great year for this company.
Can't wait to see their next production THE CRIPPLE OF INNISHMAAN.
4 comments:
I saw a community theater production of The Glass Menagerie. A woman was using an old-fashioned phone in one scene and the wire into the base fell off. Oblivious, she yakked away while the audience started to murmur and giggle. It was the highlight of the evening.
The gravel incident reminds me of a scene in Robertson Davies's TEMPEST TOSS'D. A rather pompous actor, against strict instructions from his director not to do it, decides to recite the seven ages of man speech while eating a grape between each "age." After about the third grape, he realizes that it's a bad idea but can't think of a way to gracefully stop, so continues chomping away. Then, he emits a distinct belch.
Robertson Davies was such a great writer.
Patti - Yikes! I'm glad the production went well even if the gravel was a bit crunchy. What a story!
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