jdcfuddymeers

Overall, the production of __Fuddy Meers__ given in the cellar theatre on Thursday, January 27th was a great production that I thoroughly enjoyed. Such a small venue and the constant change in scenes posed problems during certain parts of the play, but every little thing allowed the cast and crew to overcome these difficulties and put on a successful play. The first thing that I noticed when I entered the theatre was the close proximity of the stage to the audience. This did allow for me to be able to hear everything the actors were saying very clearly, but it also caused problems for my personal experience of the play due to where my seat was located. At certain points, I could see more of the sets which weren’t being used than the actual set of the play where the actors were performing. Especially during the scenes when the actors were driving in the car, I had a difficult time seeing some of the action, and at some points my attention was distracted by other people moving around backstage. Another problem with the rotating set was when the scene changed, it made noises and at one point, one of the people rotating the stage took multiple tries to secure the set in place. However, these slight problems were necessary to be able to change scene so often, and the great benefits of this rotating set far outweighed the problems introduced by it. Another key element of the play was the lighting and sound. The sound was, for the most part, at a good volume which didn’t drown out the actors, but was also loud enough to be heard to add effect to what the actors were saying. At one point though, the sound seemed to have accidentally come on and play carnival music during a very serious part of the play. This was really the only flaw with the sound because it took away from, rather than add to, what was being said on stage, while at all other times the sound enhanced the dialogue of the characters on stage. The lighting on the show was spectacular. During scene changes, very soft but bright colored lights would dance on the rotating set, somewhat distracting you from the spinning block of wood and mesmerizing you to look at them. The lighting was also great for my seat, because as I said before, I could see other parts of the set at times, but thanks to the lighting, only the important parts of the set had been lit up for me to see, allowing me to focus my attention more on those spots than the other parts of the stage that I could see. As far as I observed, there were no problems with the lighting of the show whatsoever. Costumes also played a major part in not only conveying the time period of this show, but also in revealing the nature of some of the characters before they had even began to speak. Throughout the play Claire’s clothes were brightly colored, indicating a free and innocent personality. When she changed from her pajamas to her green dress during the play, it symbolized her transition from the woman who got out of bed in the morning knowing nothing to slowly becoming enlightened to the actions of the past. The clothing of Millet gave him an appearance of a man who did what he was told. He looked like a man who went to an office everyday and listened to his boss and merely followed orders, thinking nothing of what he was told to do. Zack/Philip’s clothing was very dark and very unprofessional looking, revealing that he had a much darker nature than what was implied through the dialogue when he first came to “rescue” Claire. Even in this first appearance, he had a mask over his face, and he had shackles on his hands, alluding to the fact that there was something sinister about him, and when his mask is lifted and his deformity is revealed, it only added to the audience’s suspicions of his dark past. Kenny was also dressed in very dark clothing, much like Philip’s, but because he was conveyed as a younger individual, this kind of dress seemed much more appropriate because in society, it is much more common for younger people to dress in such a fashion. However, the clothes did still allude to his bad habits and slightly angry personality that was prevalent throughout the whole play, until the end when he gets shot in the arm by Heidi, at which point he becomes much more compassionate. Richard’s attire mixed with his attitude on stage also conveyed him as a slightly nervous person. The way he avoided certain topics in conversations mixed with his semi-professional appearing clothes demonstrated that he has probably had a dark past, but has either been trying to change or cover something up. Heidi’s clothing was a very obvious choice because she was supposed to be impersonating a police officer, but it also gave her an aura of authority throughout the play. Even though Philip was the one who was actually in charge of their escape plans, Heidi was constantly asserting her own ideas and opinions into his plans, or she was telling him what to think. The character who was best portrayed by her clothing was Gertie. Her clothing was mixed and jumbled, symbolizing that she was unable to articulate clearly what she was thinking, but the clothes went together in a way that made her seem that she wasn’t merely senile, but that she was mentally unable to put together the complex thoughts that she created in her mind. She always knew what she was thinking, and always knew what to say, but the tragedy of Gertie was that she was unable to say it. Had she been able to articulate her thoughts adequately, the events in the play would have transpired in a much different configuration than the one that was presented. A major part of every play is the set. The set of __Fuddy Meers__ was particularly daunting due to the small size of the room in which they needed to perform, as well as the overwhelming number of scene changes within the play. They were able to overcome these challenges though by using a rotating set with multiple stages. The set of each of these stages was also particularly helpful to the interpretation of the play by the audience. Gertie’s house was very brightly colored and very homey, giving it the feeling of a quiet and comfortable place to go and relax. This is exactly what her house was too until Philip showed up with Millet and caused trouble for her, Claire and themselves. This contrast between the quaint setting and the hectic action caused the action to seem even crazier and add to the dramatic effect of the play. The set that was used for the basement of Gertie’s house was very bland and lacked color. It gave the basement a connotation of a dreary place where memories are lost and dark secrets are revealed. This is the place where Richard reveals to Millet that he is the one who actually stole the ring that Millet was accused of stealing. This realization causes Millet to change completely from a seemingly dull individual to one who is suddenly filled with desire, not only to take revenge on Richard, but to go by himself and become a new person. However, the addition of all the toys and the workbench, also gave the basement symbolism as a place where lost memories were recovered. Claire found many of her old playthings down there which helped her remember various events from the past, creating an air of enlightenment which was also joined by Millet’s enlightenment of Richard’s past thievery. The last thing that added to the success of this play in my mind was the actors. The actors were all great and portrayed their characters very well. The actor who played Zack/Philip was able to distort his voice very well and display through his actions elements which portray the character as someone who had actually cared for Claire, but had a dark personality filled with flaws that could never make his love for her a reality. The actress who played Gertie was especially phenomenal. She had a very difficult dialogue, filled with random assortments of words and sounds which weren’t even words at all. Even with this challenge, she was always able to say them in a way which the audience could always understand what she was trying to say. All of the actors did a great job as well, but those two just stood out in my mind as the two who made the show particularly good. There were some minor flaws in the production of __Fuddy Meers__, but most of these flaws were due to the environment in which they were forced to work. Such a small space produced many problems, but with a great cast and crew, they were able to overcome these problems and put on a very good performance.