Feature Article April 22, 2004
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SHS One-Act Plays
Those who went to SHS Drama Clubs three one-act plays last week were treated to a rich and varied evening of entertainment.
The first play of the evening was, literally, a hard act to follow. Laundry and Bourbon was convincingly and well acted by Stefanie Young and Kristine Arthur. Both young women maintained credible southern accents throughout, and neither needed any help from the afterthought of a stuffed cactus to show us that they were in a hot, sunny climate. The script combined zinging one-liners with a perturbing backstory that left us with no easy answers. A clever set design used a raised platform with corner pillars to contain the action within the much larger stage. Full credit to director Chris Laffin and his cast and crew for choosing a difficult play, and presenting it well.
The story of the second play, The Monkeys Paw, was probably familiar to most of the audience, yet the cast managed to build such a sense of foreboding and horror that the whole audience jumped like a heap of lab mice when the first blow thudded against the door. Cory Toth and Jennifer Roberts were on stage throughout as the old couple. Cory managed to depict an old mans crotchetiness without overdoing it, and although Jennifers face seemed young, her movement was consistently that of an elderly person. Andrew Herrington played the callow, cheerful son, Paul Tye obviously enjoyed his role as the blustering, one-armed officer, and Donny Allan carried the solemn role of a mill manager bringing grim news.
Three Tables takes place in a restaurant, where most of the characters are required to remain in place throughout. The plays movement comes from the dialogue we hear from first one table, then another. Each of the couples is a self-contained unit, only occasionally aware of the others. Stefanie Young and David Unsworth play a young married couple celebrating their anniversary, Shannon Kearns and Robert Dale are meeting to finalize their divorce papers, and Tom Glassco and Nicole Everet are young professionals who have met through the internet for their first date, and are cautiously reflecting on the nature of relationships. The audience enjoyed the sense of eavesdropping on one table after another, and the stage business that went on at the tables whose speech we couldnt hear. This play, though enjoyable, might have benefited from closer placement of the tables and slightly faster pacing.
