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Thematic theme things
Sep. 28th, 2007 12:14 amCaught the friends and family preview of Doubt at Playhouse on the Square tonight: it was really a fantastic show. Between it and Rabbit Hole a couple of months ago that's two recent Pulitzer winners in a row (not to mention I am My Own Wife a year ago) of which they've mounted excellent productions.
It's the little motifs in Doubt that get you: fingernails, power, acceptance. Then bigger things: our relationship with God and with one another, unintended consequences, the role of forgiveness. And doubt.
A clever thing about the play: the opening scene is a sermon monologue about doubt and the way it holds a commonality for people. The closing scene features Sister Aloysius, an unsympathetic, though idealistic character through almost all of the play, stating simply that she has doubts. And we, the audience, connect with her for that one moment, and the stage goes black. It's all tied together so well, you want to immediately watch or read it again to see what themes run the course of the play.
There were a couple of hurdles tonight: A light that didn't know whether it wanted to be on or off, a line started wrong and corrected, a great joke that fell flat with its first audience, all easily fixed.
I'll be happy to go see it again as a paying customer during its run.
It's the little motifs in Doubt that get you: fingernails, power, acceptance. Then bigger things: our relationship with God and with one another, unintended consequences, the role of forgiveness. And doubt.
A clever thing about the play: the opening scene is a sermon monologue about doubt and the way it holds a commonality for people. The closing scene features Sister Aloysius, an unsympathetic, though idealistic character through almost all of the play, stating simply that she has doubts. And we, the audience, connect with her for that one moment, and the stage goes black. It's all tied together so well, you want to immediately watch or read it again to see what themes run the course of the play.
There were a couple of hurdles tonight: A light that didn't know whether it wanted to be on or off, a line started wrong and corrected, a great joke that fell flat with its first audience, all easily fixed.
I'll be happy to go see it again as a paying customer during its run.
