The president and his translator Buck were in a bunker because they think there was about to be a war and they don't want the president to be killed. Then they are trying to compromise with Moscow so they won't start throwing bombs at America. What I thought was cool was that you usually expect the president to be in the biggest and fanciest space possible, but he was actually in the most unlively, cramped place you can think of. Sometimes with a very suspenseful play you go too overboard with something, but with this I think the president and Buck seemed calm enough that they could do what they had to do, but scared enough that they didn't seem crazy. I thought the president was very well portrayed because even though he had a lot of power he didn't seem selfish. When you were seeing if he would drop the bombs on New York, that was very suspenseful!
The Nerve Center is where everything starts, where the entire nuclear war might start because they have this new technology and they are showing it to Congressman Raskob (Joe Mack) and an engineer named Knapp (Lee Russell) but then they see that there is a plane coming to the U.S. that might have a bomb and nobody knows what it is. I thought that Colonel Cascio (Stuart Ritter) and General Bogan (Mark Pracht) are two of the most complicated characters in the show because they feel like the Colonel has to obey the General on everything that he says but then he tries to go against him. Then he gets into trouble for that, also because he happened to hit his boss's face with a phone. Their job is to obey even if they think it would kill everyone in the world. I don't think that is a good way to treat people, to make them obey everything you say even if it will hurt people. They make those rules because they think it will be better to have someone who is older and more experienced telling everyone what to do. I think General Bogan was right in this case because it would be better to lose 5 lives than losing like 5,000.
A lot of funny and sad stuff happened in the Pentagon. Everyone had a different view of things. Sometimes their opinions were so crazy that you could hardly believe them. But sometimes the people had ideas that were so great, you just wished the people would believe them. The professor's idea that you have a war that can be controlled on both sides sounded impossible, because you don't know what your enemy is going to do next. But the professor's craziest and horriblest idea was to just kill everybody in Moscow. The idea that I thought was great was the one to try to get the bomb back in any way possible and Brigadier General Black (Carmine Grisolia) has that idea. Black is basically the good guy in the story. He tries to follow orders even though they require him to hurt people because he knows if there is a war it would last for a very long time. I thought that General Stark (Dave Skvarla) was really funny because he said this hilarious line about the professor which was something along the lines of, "When will the university pay to cut your hair." I just loved the expressions that came over both their faces.
People who would like this show are people who like suspense, old-timey computers, and haircuts. I really liked this show. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I think this show should be for ages 9 and up because it is very sad, but I think people who know more about what war is actually like and don't think of it as a game would be able to handle it. I think people should definitely go and see this show. I loved it!
Photos: Tom McGrath
Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called King Lear. It was written by William Shakespeare. It was directed by Barbara Gaines and it was about King Lear (Larry Yando) who has three daughters and he was giving his kingdom away to his daughters and he loved his youngest daughter Cordelia (Nehassaiu deGannes) the most. (Don't tell her sisters!) And his two older daughters, Goneril (Bianca LaVerne Jones) and Regan (Jessiee Datino), really went overboard with telling him how much they loved him. Then when it was Cordelia's turn, she just said "I love you as a daughter should." And then King Lear gets really angry. Then the rest of the play is him realizing he did the wrong thing and realizing that he shouldn't have given any land to his other daughters because it was all just a plot to get all his power and land. This play is about betrayal, love, government, and how Lear can't think about what his actions will make other people feel like or will make him feel soon. I had a lot of fun at the play as well as it being sad. I think that is a great combination because then there is a mystery to the play. Just because there was a horrible thing doesn't mean there is going to have to be another horrible thing next--sometimes you get a funny part.
I thought the man who played King Lear was amazing because he made King Lear funny and made you able to sympathize with him, but you're also kind of angry with him because he is very gullible and he never really tries to learn anything about his faults and how they cause the things around him. I thought that the opening was really funny because it opens up with him trying to change the music on his radio, but then it keeps not being the song he wants and then he throws the controller on the floor. And then the man who is standing next to him pulls out another one. It shows you that he is very rich that he has so many of these he can break one every few seconds. He deals with his anger by throwing things and not by thinking over what his problem is. You like him least when he sends off Cordelia and you like him most when he goes back to Cordelia. He starts out being angry at Cordelia and then he realizes his mistake.
My favorite scene was when the rain happened. The sound effects (Lindsay Jones) and lighting (Michael Gend) were amazing and terrifying because the thunder was so loud and the lighting was like lightning. The intensity was like if somebody was really in the storm because it was so loud and you didn't know when it was going to happen. When the scene was happening it was when King Lear was going crazy. I think those two things went together because the storm was kind of going crazy and the storm was making him crazy and you felt like you were in his mind because of course he wasn't really commanding the clouds but it seemed like he was. This is one of the only plays in Shakespeare where there is no magic. Like in Romeo and Juliet there's the magic elixir, in Hamlet there's a ghost, and in Julius Caesar the prophecies actually come true and the blood fountain dream. Edmund (Jesse Luken) lies about a dream that he has about his brother Edgar (Steve Haggard) doing wrong. What is weird is that Lear is kind of like Prospero in the storm scene, but Prospero is actually commanding the storm with magic. Lear also sees Edgar as a philosopher when he is dressed up like a crazy person and pretending he is a crazy person. It makes the story seem more real because of how little magic there is. If this story is real, it makes it very very sad.
I thought it was cool how Cordelia was a general because usually she is just a princess in a tower, and they made her seem more capable. And it made it seem more like when Lear disowned her, she didn't just go and marry a jerk. France (Christopher Chmelik) let her have freedom to do whatever she wanted to do.
I thought that the Fool (Ross Lehman) might have been in love with King Lear because of how he treated him. He treated him very nicely and when he was sad he would try to make him feel better. It was not like a fool usually would, like telling a bunch of different jokes; he would actually comfort him by giving him a hug. And King Lear gave the fool his coat so he wouldn't be cold and stuff like that. I think that King Lear was in love with the Fool because of that.
Edgar and Edmund were not very good brothers because Edmund was trying to get Edgar into trouble with his dad so Edmund would be Gloucester's (Michael Aaron Lindner) favorite child. Edmund was basically the villain in the play but there were also other villains. Like King Lear at the beginning is a villain. And Regan and Goneril and the Duke of Cornwall (Lance Baker) also were evil because two of them put out somebody's eyes and the other one lied in so many ways. I think Edgar has nothing against his brother and you feel sorry for him and just want to shout out from the audience: "He's lying to you! Don't go! Your father loves you!" I thought Steve did a great job at being crazy but not so crazy that you absolutely thought he'd really gone crazy. I liked when he was trying out how he could be crazy in different ways. I remember one where he says a line in like the weirdest way possible--like it doesn't even sound possible that it is crazy--and then he's like, "No." And I just found that funny because usually in Shakespeare when someone is trying to do believable pretending to be something that they are not, they're not very good but they don't know that. Like Bottom thinks that he is the best actor in the world, but actually he is really bad. After a lot of practicing Edgar finds out a way that he can pretend to be crazy. But then when he gets out he realizes he's just facing a bunch of crazy people: the Fool, King Lear, and Gloucester.
People who would like this show are people who like tomboy Cordelias, amazing storm scenes, and stereo controller destruction. I think people should definitely go and see this show because it is funny, scary, and King Lear is amazing! I really liked this show because it made me realize how funny and sad King Lear can be.
Photos: Liz Lauren
Bianca's choice to be with the Duke instead of her husband is, I think, sort of a bad one. I think she should have stayed with her husband since she was already married. And I felt like the Duke expressed how he thought she was so beautiful in a horrible way. At first I didn't understand why she decided to go with the Duke instead of her husband. But now I think she decided that the Duke would make her rich and famous. And she realized how her husband was treating her, which was not very nice. He was treating her more like an object that made him happy. He brought her home to his mother (Morgan McCabe) and made promises that he had not talked about with his wife yet. And he wouldn't even let her look out the window to see what the weather was like. He doesn't let her go anywhere because he is afraid she'll have an affair with someone. And if he hadn't done that, she probably wouldn't have.
I think it is weird that everyone is so shocked about the uncle-niece relationship between Hippolito and Isabella. I think that it is weird because in this time period people got married to their cousins, and an uncle is not exactly the same but it is sort of the same. In the play they are very shocked that he is in love with her, but I wasn't. I felt like it wasn't good that Livia lied to them just so her brother would be happy. She could have just said, "I think you two can be in love and have to be in love secretly because everyone would hate you for a long time except me because I don't care that you two are uncle and niece. I think that if you love each other you should love each other and I won't tell anyone" and then actually keep her promise. I don't think it would be okay now, but I think it would have been back then. You are rooting for the relationship because when Livia lies to Isabella and says that they aren't actually uncle and niece, Isabella then just goes straight to tell him that she loves him. Hippolito seems like an amazing person compared to the Ward (Laura Lapidus) who she is supposed to marry who is a complete idiot!
I think that Livia is a very evil character but you still find sympathy for her. Most of the stuff that she does is horrible horrible horrible, but they still find a way to make you like her. You can understand why she decides to let Guardiano (Matt Pierce) try to make the Duke and Bianca a couple: because she thinks that if she makes the Duke happy he will make her rich and famous. And that I think is very selfish, but you can understand why she wants that too. You don't hate her because her one and only love dies but most people think it is good that they killed him because she and her love weren't actually married and he was already married and they hadn't been divorced yet. She falls in love in a kind of strange way; she falls in love with him by just seeing him. I think she just suddenly finds who she wants to be with. That makes you like her more because this is not a plot. It is actually the way she feels.
I thought that the staging idea was really cool. You would be sometimes super close to the action because you were seated all around the room and the action took place all around the room. But the problem was that sometimes I couldn't see what was going on in the scene because of where we were situated. I really wish that I could have seen the dueling scene because I know who it was by, R&D Choreography, and I know their choreography is very good. They could make it different by either just putting it on one stage or making it promenade so you could go and see whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. I think that my readers should get there very early and go in the second that the doors open and get the best seats in the house. Don't get a back seat--get a very front seat! Some people will have to sit in the back seats, so you should just bring like 7 cushions and sit on all of them.
People who would like this show are people who like characters that you hate but also love, evil-ish relationships, and suspense. I had a fun but on-the-edge-of-my-seat time at this show. I think that it is great to have this kind of show that hasn't been done in a long time. It was written a long time ago, but it represents some things that are happening in our time. I really loved this show.
Photos: Ben Chandler
Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called The Arsonists. It was by Max Frisch and it was adapted by Alistair Beaton. It was directed by Matt Hawkins. It was about a man named Gottlieb Biedermann (Robert Kauzlaric), and a man named Schmitz (Scott Danielson) came into his house and he wanted to stay in the attic. But Biedermann's wife Babette (Sarah Goeden) thought Schmitz was an arsonist. Beidermann thought the same thing but Schmitz made him feel bad so then he didn't send him out and call the cops. But then Schmitz had invited his friend Eisenring (Ira Amyx) to come stay with him. Beidermann and Babette got really scared so they decided to invite them to dinner so they could discuss it and find out if they were really arsonists. It is about how you can pretend somebody is not something that they are so then you can make yourself less scared. The play doesn't think that that is a good idea. If somebody comes to your house and says, "Of course, I'm not an arsonist" but they do everything an arsonist would do, then you should get suspicious instead of thinking, "They are probably just storing petrol up here for…for business reasons." I thought it was funny because it was so unrealistic and the way Biedermann was acting was just so dumb. When I was watching this show, I felt very nerve-wracked but then the funny parts were kind of like comic relief. It was funny, then nerve-wracking, then funny, then nerve-wracking. I think that it is great to have a show that incorporates actual aspects of real life but also is not very realistic. The actual aspect is that people sometimes try to make up stories for themselves so then they will believe themselves even though they know the stories are not true.
I thought the scene where Schmitz was eating breakfast but then Babette had to tell it was time to leave was a funny scene. It was funny how instead of thinking she was telling him it was time to go, he thought she thought that he had no table manners. Well, he didn't, but she's not so mean that she would actually say that. He basically tore off things with his teeth and chewed with his mouth open. It was funny when he said, "You wouldn't leave me out in the rain, would you?" and it looks like Babette is thinking, "There's no rain out" and then there's thunder and lightning. Crack-boom, it is suddenly raining! And I saw surprise go over her face. I thought the sound (design by Sarah Espinoza) was great because it happened right exactly the second after he said "You wouldn't leave me out in the rain!" The sound was great in the entire play, especially with the big sound at the end! The lights (design by Sean Mallary) were good too; I liked how the entire city seemed to be on fire in the little house blocks.
The scene where Biedermann found the Petrol was funny because the arsonists--now there are two--just were like, "Oh. It's just petrol." That was funny because it is totally unrealistic that Eisenring just tells him that it is petrol. And Biedermann's face just went crazy: his mouth went open and his eyebrows went unlevel with each other. And he is also making the detonator out in the open and he gets Biedermann to put the wire all around the house. They basically make a game of putting the detonator wire all around. You know it is not a good idea, but it is just so ridiculous that it is funny. And basically for the entire next scene they are just dodging around wire. I think they did that to show that they are trying to pretend that the wire isn't there, but it is actually there and it could hurt them.
There was a scene that showed how Mr. Biedermann knew that they were arsonists because he decided to invite them over for dinner and let them go easily so they wouldn't feel super bad. But he also wanted them to feel like "oh he's just like us," so they wouldn't set the house on fire. He is afraid that they think he is too rich and fancy, so then he makes it seem like he's not very rich or fancy. And he tells Anna (Rebecca Wolfe) the maid to wear a sweater instead of an apron and not to put out silverware or serve the goose on a platter. But then at the dinner table Eisenring says, "I sure would like it if there was some silverware, or napkins, or finger bowls." And then Biedermann says, "Oh we have those! Oh, Anna, why were you so silly not to put out the finger bowls and napkins." And then she's like, "But you you told me…" and he interrupts and says, "But really, why did you not?" and she says "You told me not to!" and storms out of the room. I think that shows more about how servants are treated and how the bosses shouldn't blame everything on them.
People who would like this show are people who like petrol, bad table manners, and finger bowls. People should definitely go and see this show. I thought it was funny, suspenseful, and it made me think about what it would be like to be in that kind of situation and what you would do. I would send them out of the house even if it made them feel bad. If they said, "We are not arsonists," I would say, "What is that detonator in your hand and why are you flicking that lighter so creepily!"
Photos: Chris Ocken
I thought that the set (by Joe Schermoly) was great because it showed you that you were in a theater but you still felt like you were in the place that they said you were. At first it looked like a lake. The second time it looked like a kitchen. And then it looked like a porch, but then you still felt like you were in the theater because you saw the curtain in the back and the porch looked like it was on a roof or that it was a slanted stage.
It was cool how they mixed recorded music and live music and how the live music was played by Mash (Katy Carolina Collins) and Dev (Matt Fletcher). In the final section, they use their music to show what had happened over the last few years. Earlier the music was played by Mash and used as a distraction while they were making a big set change because they had to put down the entire wall and use it as another stage. I thought it was funny when basically we were all looking where she didn't want us to look and she said, "Eyes on me!" Because she keeps looking back to see where there are and is basically breaking her own rules and everyone is laughing. At the beginning of the play the music just shows how miserable Mash is because she is in love with Con. I liked how they didn't just make all the music sad and depressing; sometimes it was funny because the way she sings about how depressed she is is kind of funny. The songs that she writes are so weirdly depressing--the lyrics don't make much sense together. It is funny because she expresses it so openly and in such a gruff way. I thought that is was great that Mash and Dev got together in the end because I think that Mash was just too upset about how Con would never love her and Dev was a very nice person.
I liked it how Nina was in love with Trig basically from the start. In the other Seagull I saw she just liked his books at first. But in this one she immediately fell in love with him the second that she saw him. She is basically a step away from being engaged to Con and then that makes me really angry because she never thinks about how much she used to love him and how this is just a famous guy who snuck into their lives. But you don't hate Nina because she is basically too sweet to hate. Once she goes away with Trig she has a good life for like 2 years but then he gets tired of her and leaves. They have a kid but the kid dies and I thought that that was really sad because she was very happy and she remembers the little girl she used to have and suddenly she was gone. Con still loves Nina even though she did something really horrible to him. But he has loved her since she was young so he still loves her. It tells you that Con is a very persistent but loving person. But also he wants to be able to love himself again because when he was with Nina he felt better about himself and when Nina left he didn't know how to live with himself.
I thought that the crazy scene was different from the movie that I saw because it was actually more funny because she said stuff like, "Seagulls can't act" and she says stuff like, "That should be on a t-shirt." When I saw the movie I didn't really understand very much why she thought she was a seagull, but in this I understand more. It was like she felt like she had been shot like the seagull Con shot. And she felt like she used to be graceful like the live seagull but once Trig took her away she didn't feel so graceful anymore because he didn't treat her like she thought he would. So then she was like the dead seagull.
Emma is a great character to have because you have mixed emotions about her all the time. Like in the scene in the kitchen in the middle of the night when Con comes in and starts eating cheese, and she comes in and starts having an argument with him, you don't like her. But then she starts comforting him like a good mother and then you start to like her again. I think that it runs in the family to still love someone even after they have been super mean to you because Emma and Con both are still in love with Trig and Nina when they run away with each other. Still!
It was cool how Sorn (Norm Woodel) was the brother character mixed with the doctor because the doctor is a great character and so is the brother. I think having both characters would have been too much for this adaptation because of the way that this adaptation is built. This adaptation is built by having the play and then finding a way to make it again but make it the adaptor's own by making it funny and making you realize what the characters are really feeling. I think that it is hard for Sorin and Dorn to be in the same play because they both do the same thing in The Seagull. They are both old and not very helpful and talk about death and age a lot. They both give Con advice and try to keep his optimism up. I thought it was funny how Sorn put vodka in his power-up drink. I liked how he seemed sneaky about it like, no one can tell I put vodka in my health drink.
I liked the direct address in Chekhov for once in SFB. I don't usually like it because I don't like it when they are supposed to be talking to a character in the scene with them but instead they talk to the audience. I think they choose in some Chekhov productions to have the character talk to the audience because they want to over-push that the audience is really there. But then if you are the person in the scene with them you don't get to react to what the person is saying because they are not saying it to you. In SFB it was different because they talk to you at the same time as they talk to the other people on stage because they are all talking to you. I felt like they were really talking to the audience because Con asked for advice from the audience which most plays don't do. The play ends with everybody talking to the audience about what usually happens in the show, but then they say that won't happen this time. It is very suspenseful.
People who would like this show are people who like good direct address, live depressing-ish and funny music, and putting vodka in your health drink. I think people should definitely go see this show. The only people who shouldn't go are people who are not ok with swearing or making out. It is funny, sad, and it makes you realize what the characters in The Seagull are actually feeling. I really loved this show and I hope that everyone gets a chance to see it.
Photos: Jonathan L. Green
I thought that the first section was very funny because of the way that they portrayed Herakles. Because instead of being the usual heroic from the start Herakles he was a very confused Herakles at first. He wanted to be heroic but he didn't know what was heroic. I really liked Herakles' yell "Ah-he-ey!" because it sounded like a teenage boy's call. Well, he basically was a teenage boy but they think of him as an adult in their time. I really liked how Eurystheus (Maximillian Lapine) had his little thing where he would just say "shadows…os…os…os." He would pretend to have his own echo and move his arms like he was doing the shimmy. That was really funny because he didn't get how it was supposed to work. He would yell "I am the necromancer!!!" and put his legs like in a grand plié and put his arms up and his head up to the sky and there would be lightning. I thought that was funny because he always wanted more, so since he didn't get an echo he decided to make his own.
But you also sometimes hate Eurystheus because he makes Herakles kill two of his sons (Metrius, Christine Stulik), frighten the other Patroklos (Taflan) and chop off the arm of the daughter (Casey). I think that Herakles's wife (Doman) seemed like a nice person, but she could never be the nicest person she wanted to be because of her husband basically, because of the way they met. They didn't meet naturally; they met because Herakles saved her. Herakles is sort of a jerk but she falls in love with him anyway. All her niceness goes to him and so she doesn't have enough to come save her children from him. And Asterope (Barlow) shouldn't have taken Herakles's offer to come home with him but I think she was scared that he would get angry if she didn't. And she also kind of thought he was handsome. Philoktetes' (Danny Goodman) job was supposed to be to make Herakles stay true, but he failed because he was also scared of Herakles. I thought it was really funny how he had a fur cap but everybody thought it was a wig and basically it did look like a wig because it covered all his hair.
I really thought that Ægeus's(Sulkes) goat legs (costumes by Alison Siple) were really cool. The way that he walked in them, kind of crouching the entire time looked very realistic. I thought he seemed like a very nice person, but he also had some faults because when something went wrong he immediately didn't want to live anymore. The way that he wanted to die was by pickle. I thought that was funny because what kind of Greek tragedy has one of the heroes die by eating a pickle?! Death by pickle is way weirder than death by robe.
Médée (Omar) is kind of a jerk but you kind of understand why she is a jerk, because her husband Jason (Metrius) doesn't give her enough love. I thought that her hair wasn't actually bad (I thought it was kind of cute) but Jason said, "Here's some money so you can get a comb for that messy hair of yours." I thought, why does everyone hate her hair so much? It is actually pretty! Having a bad husband is not a good reason to kill your baby because the baby doesn't have anything to do with it. The story that Phèdra (Stulik) told about her son was kind of gross. I thought that she and Theseus (Ryan Borque) could have had a great relationship if he hadn't gone away for so long to go and kill the minotaur. In this play, boys are usually going to kill somebody, kill somebody by accident, or are going off to go and be with another woman. The men usually make the tragedy by not loving or by leaving.
I liked how in the second section all the characters had a secret that was revealed to everyone, including the audience, at different points in the show. I liked this because sometimes the audience knows a secret that the characters don't know and then it is only a surprise to the characters on stage. One of my favorite characters in this entire play was Hæmon who basically acted like a child throughout the play even though he asks Antigone to marry him because he really did love her and he always had loved her. But you sort of wish he had waited for a different time to ask her because her father had just died. They tried to trick Oedipus into coming back because there was a museum. I thought it was awesome how he had the turtle Cadmus for the entire time and the turtle was basically one of the only survivors by the end of it.
I also really liked Tiresias (Gavel) who was Hæmon's nanny. My mom told me that that character is usually a man. I really liked that change because then there is more suspense because she might be Hæmon's mother and also Creon (Sulkes) could be the actual father because they used to be dating. She is homeless for some of the play and she plays the spoons. But she doesn't really play the spoons; she more gets worse at the spoons each time. She is also a fortune teller, so most of this section happens because she is a fortune teller.
I thought that it was funny how Polynikes (Lapine) was like addicted to an energy drink and he steals bikes from little girls. I didn't think either one of the brothers, Polynikes or Eteokles (Geoff Button), would have either of them been good rulers. I think Antigone should have done it because she seemed more calm and more kind-hearted. To have a democratic state like Athens had would have been even better than Antigone, but I still think Antigone should have been part of the democratic state because she seemed like the most calm and generous person in the entire play basically. And also kind of the least stupid person.
When Oedipus took out his eyes, it was very very very disgusting because literally you could see his eyes come out of his sockets. And then he would throw them on the floor and you would hear a splat. It was so disgusting, but I loved it! Oedipus seemed like a very nice man but he made a lot of bad decisions because everything was happening too quickly for him. He just found out his wife (Stulik) was his mother and he just became king, so he didn't want to see any more, so he decided he wanted to pull out his eyes, which is not the best decision in my opinion.
The third section started out very sad because Agamemnon lied to his wife Klytaimnestra, lied to his daughter Iphigenia, lied to his son Orestes (Button), lied to his entire family and then killed his daughter. But the way that he lied was just so horrible because he lied about a wedding, so that means they spent a lot of money and did a lot of things--bought a wedding dress and got everyone ready for this wedding--and then it turns out he just wanted to kill his daughter for the sake of the army. Seriously? But there is no real sake of the army because she doesn't have anything to do with the army except that she's his daughter. And what really makes me angry is that he says she is going to get married to one of the most famous people in the world, Achilles, but then she is very very happy about everything until she finds out she's probably going to die today. Not good parenting, people!!!
I thought that Kassandra (Stulik) was a very troubled character. Because what she always did and thought was a good idea to get attention was to stick her knitting needles into her arm and start screaming the future. She was right about the future all the time, but sometimes there were a few little flaws like when she thinks Agamemnon is going to die in the war but then it happens after. The hearts (designed by Maya Marshall) I thought were kind of creepy. She didn't knit valentine hearts, she knit like a diagram of the human heart. I thought that Red Berry / Polyxena (Barlow) seemed like she was scared of a lot of different things, but she comes to a very sad end. I liked how she was very clueless at first but by the end she had learned a lot during the war. I also really liked her berry pajamas because they were very adorable.
I liked how they really made it clear that Achilles and Patroklos were a couple because it made it when Patroklos died even more sad. I liked how they were very open with each other and I think Patroklos would have cooked a very good dinner if they had gotten home after the war. Achilles is very noble and all the girls liked him and wanted to marry him but that just made Patroklos angry. But he still wanted to help Iphigenia. I liked how Achilles' first armor kind of looked like a biker costume with the skull mask. But his second armor is a little bit less scary. It happens to be…a sweater. Which is not the most heroic thing ever.
I thought that the sheep (made by Kristine Herne) were hilarious. I loved it when Agamemnon said, "Maybe I just don't like YOU!" and all the sheep went "ooooh" a sheep voices. The crowd erupted in laughter. I also liked it how Ajax (Lapine) was having visions of all the sheep being like commanders and stuff.
The beginning of the fourth part was a little bit disgusting because of the way Klytaimnestra wanted to kill her husband. She wanted to kill him by stabbing him with his own giant stick basically through his back, which is not very nice in my opinion. She did have an excuse; her excuse is that he killed their daughter. He is a terrible person if he kills his daughter just because the gods said so to turn his boat around. Those gods suck!!! Also, Agamemnon brings back Kassandra, who is the knitting-needles-poke-yourself lady, as his spear bride. If you don't know what a spear bride is, you can learn it from me, Ada Grey! A spear bride is a souvenir from war which is a woman. I thought it was really funny how there was like a five-minute conversation between Klytaimnestra and Agamemnon: "Who am I?" "My wife?" "Who's she?" "My spear bride!" That goes on and on for so long that every time he says "My spear bride!" everyone bursts into laughter. You would be disturbed out of your mind if they didn't try to make it funny.
The island scene where there was the hoodoo witch, was the weirdest scene in this entire play. Because what kind of Greek Tragedy takes place on a hoodoo island? This one, I guess. So Menelaus (Borque) and his wife/spear bride Helen (Casey), who happened to be the youngest seven sister, are shipwrecked on this island and then they meet another Helen who was supposed to be trapped here all along by an evil hoodoo witch. It is really weird because then at the end he gets very confused that there are two Helens, so he goes and chops off one of their heads and hopes that he chopped off the head of the witch. Helen is basically like a character in a Katy Perry music video, a character who is a teenager who dresses up as a princess and paints little girls' faces as a summer job.
Hermione (Barlow) this entire time they are on the witch hoodoo island has been planning a surprise party with canons going off, and crazy party stuff, and wine spritzers. She has been planning this but then bandits--Orestes and Pylades (Taflan) trying to run away because Orestes has killed his mother--break in and eat the cake. Then her parents come in and to try to make up for the cake she lets out beautiful confetti which later they find out is made basically of glass. I thought that made Hermione seem pretty stupid.
Elektra is way more smart, but she is kind of crazy too. She likes to wear mud all over herself because her mother killed her father. She can't control herself and throws mud at everyone and cries and just is angry basically all the time. Then people want to take her away to a school of very depressed marms. And then Pylades pretends to be one of the evil people who work at the school. And then he punches this guy in the face and puts up his arms in victory but is still completely deadpan. I thought that Pylades one of the most hilarious characters because what he is is someone who is basically quiet all the time and is like a secret agent for Orestes, but he also tries to give people hugs, but no one wants a hug from him. You kind of feel sorry for him, but he doesn't seem all that sad.
People who would like this show are people who like turtles, spear brides, and death by pickle. I think that everyone should go and see this show and take all their friends. I loved it so much! It it not just sad and funny, it also makes you appreciate the relationships that you have with your family.
Photos: Evan Hanover
Jezebella was my favorite character. She was a really funny character because when you think of witch you don't exactly think of fortune-teller, but they made it work. I liked how she had a different relationship with each of the witches. She kind of didn't like the Crone and she thought Novella was a crybaby and she didn't like being bossed around by Minerva because they had been teacher and student and one night they kind of started to like each other. She is a big part of the story. I didn't understand all of her decisions, but most of them. She didn't really want to be there because she didn't like any of the people there. And she didn't want to be abducted by the Crone. She just wants to go back and not be killed and she wants her house to be safe.
The fighting (violence design by Maureen Yasko) was really cool and fun because it wasn't too cheesy. But it also still showed that they were witches having a fight because they mostly used magical powers. I liked the sword-fighting with the brooms and how they kind of tried to overpower each other with the other person's broom. I really liked it how they went up on the ceiling some of the time and used it like monkey bars. I did feel like the gun was overused because it was there all the time and you knew that was what Goody Gumdrops would use. I think that Babes with Blades always has great fighting!
I thought it was cool how they made it seem like magic was really happening, like when they got down the bottles and they would zap them down. I also liked it how the cat looked like it was jumping down even though it was obviously stuffed; that made it really funny. I also liked it how they toyed with the idea of the witch making a brew but then it was just minestrone or stew or stuff like that.
I liked it how one of the characters turns into a zombie and so she's just kind of talking nonsense a lot of the time. It was also how she moved. She moved exactly like a zombie. Before she was very serious and never seemed like she would have a good time, but then she is almost always smiling when she's a Zombie. Her eyes look very bloodshot and very wide. I thought that was really funny because she also has blood dripping from her mouth and she walks around like a zombie and is going really slow all the time, but she is always very enthusiastic about everything when she's a zombie. That's funny because when you think of the word enthusiastic you don't think of a zombie; you think of a four-year-old kid or something. She portrayed the role of the zombie perfectly.
People who would like this show are people who like magic, craziness, and zombies. I think people will have fun at this show. My whole family went and we all had a good time. I'm really looking forward to the next Babes with Blades show.
Photos: Steven Townshend
