University of Oxford Student Company at the Oxford Playhouse (13/9/12)
I studied this play for my GCSE and loved it but I hadn't had the opportunity to see it performed, until now. And I wasn't disappointed.
This production stuck to the play that I had studied at school with a very traditional interpretation of Arthur Miller's classic story. The simple stage design provided a great backdrop for the action without detracting focus from the actors. The actors themselves did well, especially with the Italian/New York accents but the two stand outs were Eddie and Beatrice. Both the actors held their accent and filled their roles with the emotion and passion that this play provokes. Equally the guy playing Alfieri managed to bring a sense of age and experience to his performance despite being only a student.
Unfortunately this emotion and passion was not reflected by Catherine who played her role with an air of excited terrier which was fine earlier on but she seemed a bit wooden towards the end. But the champion of wooden was Rudolfo. His accent was great and he delivered his lines well, injecting humour and emotion where necessary. The problem was that for an Italian he didn't have very expressive body language. I know it's a stereotype but his arms remained glued to his sides throughout. He acted well with his face and his voice but maybe he should have involved his body a bit.
But I don't want to sound harsh. The cast worked well together and the production was a success. I loved the play and got genuinely emotionally invested in it. This was only broken when people in the audience, obviously unfamiliar with the play, laughed at inappropriate moments and began the applause before the first half had ended.
A really good show and one that I feel has done the play I have read and re-read justice in performance.
I studied this play for my GCSE and loved it but I hadn't had the opportunity to see it performed, until now. And I wasn't disappointed.
This production stuck to the play that I had studied at school with a very traditional interpretation of Arthur Miller's classic story. The simple stage design provided a great backdrop for the action without detracting focus from the actors. The actors themselves did well, especially with the Italian/New York accents but the two stand outs were Eddie and Beatrice. Both the actors held their accent and filled their roles with the emotion and passion that this play provokes. Equally the guy playing Alfieri managed to bring a sense of age and experience to his performance despite being only a student.
Unfortunately this emotion and passion was not reflected by Catherine who played her role with an air of excited terrier which was fine earlier on but she seemed a bit wooden towards the end. But the champion of wooden was Rudolfo. His accent was great and he delivered his lines well, injecting humour and emotion where necessary. The problem was that for an Italian he didn't have very expressive body language. I know it's a stereotype but his arms remained glued to his sides throughout. He acted well with his face and his voice but maybe he should have involved his body a bit.
But I don't want to sound harsh. The cast worked well together and the production was a success. I loved the play and got genuinely emotionally invested in it. This was only broken when people in the audience, obviously unfamiliar with the play, laughed at inappropriate moments and began the applause before the first half had ended.
A really good show and one that I feel has done the play I have read and re-read justice in performance.
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