Event: William and
Judith by Cody Daigle
Place: The Liddy
Doenges Theatre at Tulsa Performing Arts Center
Time: Thurs 16 Feb,
8:00 pm
This is a small stage.
Proximity to the actors, as usual with small stages (I remember Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse), adds a certain edge to the audience’s reaction to the
play. Unlike shows we see on screen, watching a play on stage makes this an
experience quite different, even when the material, a fictional story, is
basically the same as what we see on stage. And although the screen pulls us
further into believing what we see by its ability to manipulate visual effects
to the service of the story and the effect a movie’s soundtrack has on our
emotional involvement, a minimalist stage somehow pulls its audience with its
own magical thrill, often sucking us even deeper into the story it portrays for
us simply by isolating all external factors, visual and auditory, and forcing us
to focus on the act and the words.
But enough of that,
now the play.
Open curtain (there is
no real curtain of course. This is, after all, a modern play where curtains
become more and more obsolete, and an enactment of a Shakespearean time, when
curtains did not exist.)
But for the sake of
the thrill, let’s go with Open Curtain.
William has been suffering
from a writer’s block and has been assisted in his last 2 or three plays by no
other than his successor John Fletcher (that Jacobean playwright who barely
ever made any appearance in Intro to Lit classes, was brushed over in drama
classes, and briefly and insignificantly touched upon in any Shakespearean drama
class. Poor John overshadowed by the bard that preceded him). William’s sister,
Judith, refusing to marry the man her father has chosen for her, disowned by
her family, turns to her older brother in memories of times they used to share
as children, writing plays under a tree. This appearance is expected and
anticipated by an audience who knows that this play is based on Virginia Woolf’s
“Shakespeare’s Sister” from her A Room of One's Own where she imagines the sad fate of a woman of genius in
Shakespeare’s time. (feminists just love these stories of what ifs?) What baffled
and won the audience’s claps and laughs and obvious acceptance is the
dialogue used in this play. This is a very well written play that means to
amuse as it brings life to Woolf’s imaginary story. The acting was superb:
Judith is the strong outspoken English woman, even when she finally gives
William permission to steal her Tempest. William’s seemingly selfish and
obnoxious playwright personality puts him at center stage as he gradually shows
us his reluctance to teach his daughter what he taught his sister for fear of a
similar fate. And Fletcher the poor playwright hidden in the shadows of Will
plays his part exceptionally well.
Now I’m more thrilled
to go see how Daigle presents The Tempest on stage. He already got my approval
for this one.
Cody Daigle, I salute you
and thank you for a beautiful night.
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