Life+is+a+Dream+Critique

I did not find __Life is a Dream__ to be a better play than the __39 Steps__//.// It was not as entertaining and did not keep my attention as well as the __39 Steps__ did. And at first, the message of the play was unclear. They were talking about women who were dead and other people who were not in Poland but in Moscow. I honestly had no clue what that had to do with the original theme of the play at first. Once they started getting to the point, I understood, but I do not think they did a good job of conveying the story to the audience at first. That being said, the play was put together fairly well, and the actors were mostly great. They did not change the lighting at all throughout the show, and I think this made it less dramatic and made the audience feel less like we were absorbed into the play. It also did not portray emotions as well as if the lights had changed throughout the production. The lights are normally used very effectively to show the mood of the play. They also had no sound effects, and I feel that this did not help the play either. It did not get us as engrossed in the play as it could have, and we did not feel the mood of the play as we would have if sound effects had been in the play. During a few parts, an actor made the sound of the wind, a bird, or a horn, and that was highly comical because it contrasted with the lack of sound effects. But that is the only good thing I feel that I can say about the sound effects.  The set was very simplistic because they really only used several chairs. When Mr. Boots and Ms. Straps first entered, they carried a trunk holding all of the costumes and props they would need throughout the play, but those were the only objects that made up the set. The physical props they used included many swords, a rope, a computer, a necklace, and a bottle. Basically, these props, along with the costumes, chairs, and trunk, are the only physical objects brought to the play, but they used these few objects very effectively. A great deal was left to the imagination. When they played as a band, they used an imaginary microphone, imaginary drums, and an imaginary guitar. Also, whenever the locations switched, Ms. Straps made sure to clue us in on where they were. At one point, they got very clever and used the theatre door as a window of the castle. Segismundo threw one of the servants out of it. Toward the end of the play, when they were going into battle, they kept referencing horses also; so many aspects of the play were left to our imaginations. In terms of the costumes, I found them to be rather fitting. Mr. Boots came out wearing a suit that was not especially high class, showing that he was a con artist trying to look very professional. Ms. Straps entered in a black dress and glasses and was very stern. David was wearing fairly casual clothes, while Tara was wearing very casual clothes. They are, however, the clowns, so they fit the part. Especially since they did not even work for Mr. Boots and Ms. Straps; they were imposters. Mr. Franklin comes out in a very nice jacket, slacks, and a tie. His lawyer enters with a nice shirt, pants, and suspenders. They fit the part very well because they are high-end investors trying to invest in the product. Jackson wears a nice shirt and pants with casual glasses. He is another clown, and the lack of coordination within his outfit shows that. When they started the scene within the play, they used red, blue, or purple vests to show which characters were men and red, blue, or purple skirts to show which characters were women. The royals wore skirts or vests with gold trim to single them out. Segismundo wore very casual clothes because she was “pulled from the audience.” Once they got her onstage, they put a vest resembling something a caveman would wear on her because she had been imprisoned on the mountain for all of her life, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail to conceal some of her feminine qualities. Any time after they initially put on the vests and skirts, they did a very good job of hiding that they were changing. Many different times, I remember seeing new outfits on the actors and wondering when that happened. The acting was fairly good throughout the show, and certain actors shined more than others. David and Tara were very energetic throughout the entire play, but they were supposed to be because they were two clowns of the play. When Mr. Boots and Ms. Straps began the presentation, Mr. Boots was very energetic, and it was evident that he was trying to sell the idea. Ms. Straps was very pushy and demanding throughout the entire play. Whenever she wanted a character to move somewhere or participate in something, she did not ask-she made it happen. Segismundo was “pulled from the audience,” and I thought that this was very clever. I was not expecting it at all. She played the part very well and got into character straight away She was so convincing that, at first, I thought she really was from the audience! All of the actors had great timing when it came to delivering their lines, but the clowns had especially good timing. They would randomly interject statements that almost had nothing to do with the play itself. The clowns also, at one point, went off on a tangent about cats that had absolutely nothing to do with the play, but it was extremely humorous and was one of the more memorable parts of the play. Many times, all or most of the characters would talk in unison, and I did not like that at all. They were very together (and I give kudos for that), but it felt rather cult-like. Some of the actors’ dialogues would come out rather robotic at times, but, overall, the actors showed emotion well and stayed in character. Some of the better actors included Nathan Cowling, Maggie Blaeser, Jennifer Elmore, Jase Wingate, Dane Alejandro, and Stephanie Genito. They tended to stay in character more than some of the other actors and actresses and made their voices seem less robotic. I definitely will give props to all of the actors and actresses for being able to keep up with the pace and choreography of the play while delivering their lines on time and being able to sing along. That takes some major lungs and athleticism, and they all did a great job of handling the elegant choreography while singing and speaking.  __Life is a Dream__ was not as good of a play as the __39 Steps__, but it was still put together fairly well. There were certain aspects that I did like and certain aspects that I did not, and there were a few elements that I would have taken away and a few elements that I would have added. Overall though, it was a fairly great show performed by talented actors and actresses. There were many references to dreams throughout the play, and I thought this was very clever. My favorite part though, I think would be the ending. Mr. Boots and Ms. Straps skipped out singing “row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily; life is but a dream,” and I thought that was very clever. The play ended completely though with Tara talking about Schrodinger’s cats again, so the play ended cleverly and comically, and I thought that was a great ending to the play.