Critiques added 12/10/08 
How I Learned to Drive
On Saturday, November 22nd my husband and I went to The University Theatre in Flint and saw the play How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel. Unfortunately we arrived late, after the play had already started. I was sorry to be late because I had just read the play and really wanted to see it performed. We were not too late though; I believe we only missed about the first five minutes. I was worried about my husband understanding the play, specially since we missed a bit, because he had not read it.
How I Learned to Drive is a weird play. It is not a traditional play where the action starts at one point and time moves chronologically forward. The play, a story about an adolescent girl, Li’l Bit who was sexually molested by her uncle, jumps around in time. I guess it is a story told in flashbacks. It works well though because the last scene of the play is shocking – it is when the girl is first molested by her uncle. In this production of the play there were two versions of the character Li’l Bit - an older, grown up Li’l Bit, who basically functions as the narrator and the younger Li’l Bit, who is always in the ‘past’ – she speaks and acts as the adolescent character in her ‘present’ circumstances as the older version tells the story looking on from the present or the young Li’l Bit’s future self.
The other characters in the play were Uncle Peck, the molester and Lil’s Bits family, a few high school girls, and a waiter. In the script of the play all the family and other small parts were to be played by three Greek Choruses. In this production there were single actors portraying each part, although some actors took on two roles. I like that there was just one actor instead of a chorus representing a character. This made the play more traditional and easier to follow. It also made the characters more real.
Although the action of play takes place in many different settings (a car, a kitchen, a bedroom, a dorm room, a hotel room, a restaurant, a school locker room), there were no set changes in this production of the play. The set was laid out in three distinct areas – a kitchen on one side, a bedroom in the middle, and a restaurant scene set up off to the other side. There was a bench set up downstage, close to the audience that was used for the car. Each area was spotlighted when the action was taking place in them, leaving unused areas in the dark. I thought this was ingenious way to set up the play and use of the stage. That way a few basic set-ups were used many different ways. Places like a locker room were just imagined.
Overall, I really liked the play. My husband thought it was a little strange because of the subject and the non-traditional time order of the play. The acting was good, specially the actor who played Uncle Peck. Bart Allen Burger did a good job of making Uncle Peck likeable yet damaged too. I guess he has charisma. He did a great southern accent too. The last scene of the play, when Li’l bit is molested for the first time was horrible as it should be. I mean that it was totally believable and cringe worthy to watch. I felt like I was being molested. Uncle Peck was touching her breasts and I felt like I was in Li’l Bit’s place trying to fend his hands off my breasts. I had to shut my eyes. I did like the play but I couldn’t wait to get out of there at the end. It was nice that older Li’l Bit’s monologue was a little humorous at the end of the play – it lightened the mood and gave the audience a chance to laugh after a horrifying scene. It gave hope- everything is going to be all right.
Metamorphoses
My husband and I saw the play Metamorphoses at The University Theatre, University of Michigan – Flint on Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 2pm. We had never seen a production of Metamorphoses before nor read the play so we did not really know what to expect. I read the synopsis of the play in the program and understood it to be about mythology. I am not a big fan of mythology – not sure why but it kind of bores me, it has never been my cup of tea. Still, I looked forward to seeing the performance because I had heard that the play was performed in a pool of water and that seemed interesting. I hoped for the best – that the play would interest me and I could come up with something to write about.
My husband and I arrived early at the theatre and had time to look at all the beautiful photographs of the actors in the production. The photographs were taken by Lake Fenton high school students for a new project in conjunction with the University Theatre and Dance Department. I thought this was a great idea to get younger kids involved with the different aspects of the theatre, the arts and the community.
The play itself got off to a late start. One of the actors had been in a car accident the day before, so she had to be replaced by her understudy, which called for some extra rehearsing. I couldn’t wait for the play to get started or at least get into my seat so I could study the set – I was intrigued by the pool of water I had heard about. Finally, at about 2:20 the house was opened and we were shown to our seat. The set was beautiful but sparse. There was a pool which took up most of the thrust stage. Behind the pool were tall columns (six, I believe), and behind the columns were arches. The columns, arches and stage (tiles) surrounding the pool all looked like a lovely, peachy marble. I really liked the set – it set the tone (the columns especially) for getting ready to see a mythological play. For who can see columns and not think of the Greeks or Romans and mythology? The music that was played prior to the opening of the show was whimsical classical music and that too set the tone. I thought that this might turn out all right – I might end up enjoying myself. At the very least the play would be interesting.
The play was made up of about 10 scenes or vignettes from Greek and Roman myths. I recognized some of the myths from childhood. Most of the myths were sad and had dark themes of death and loss, such as King Midas turning his daughter to gold, a woman losing her husband at sea (this scene was poorly acted), a man eaten up by hunger (I did not like the character Hunger in this scene - I think this may have been poorly cast), and a husband trying to get his wife back from the underworld. In between some of the vignettes were bits of silliness, put in to lighten the mood. There was a brief scene of Narcissus and also a cute little scene of Pandora’s box but these myths were just a brief suggestion using visual and auditory gags – no story was explained here.
In my opinion, which I admit may be skewed because I am not fond of mythology, I did not think the myths were very good – they did not seem to go into depth or were not dramatic enough. This play was mythology ‘lite’ that did not quite succeed. Something did not ring true with the stories and I am not sure if it was the acting or the writing/script of the play. I think it may have been both but mostly the writing. It did not pull me in. The silly bits between the vignettes, while they were cute, were not funny enough to really make me laugh out loud. The whole play was just mildly entertaining to me (mainly because of the set and lighting) and not at all because of the acting, directing, or the play itself. The play mixed modern music, sensibilities, and props (such as an oddly out of place pool net) with the old. This did not work for me, and while a little amusing at times, seemed out of place. There was one vignette I did like, the story of Pomona and Vertumnus (A god loves the goddess of gardens orchards who turns her back on Aphrodite and love, and ignores Vertumnus until he disguises himself as an old woman). I liked that mainly because of the silliness of the situation, the cuteness of it, and the actors were very good in these roles. I did not like the fact that this story was interrupted for the rather disturbing story of Myrrha (a girl who turns her back on the goddess of love and sleeps with her father). It seemed the story of Pomona and Vertumnus was cut short for this dark myth, which did not seem to be explained in full either. Most of the stories were too dark to be lighter fare and ended up being disjointed and watered down. The stories that were truly ‘lite’ were not developed enough within the play to really entertain.
The aspect of the play that really drew me in, and I have already talked about a little, was the set and the lighting. I loved the columns, arches, and of course the pool. I liked the color of the set, a peachy marble look. I loved the pool and the idea of doing a play in the water. I would have loved to have worked on this play (specially when I was younger and practically lived in the pool all during the summer months, inventing games and activities for water play). Performing in the water looked like a lot of fun. This is something you don’t see in the theatre everyday. The lighting was beautiful too, with different backlighting used for the different vignettes. There was lovely lighting used after the story of Pomona and Vertumnus concluded; it was a dappled lighting that made the effect of being in a forest. I also liked it when the set was only minimally lighted. You could just make out the contrast of the architectural details and the actors against the low lighted background. In the end scenes, a reflective mood was set with the use of candles held by the actors. The candles were floated in the pool at the end, which made the set magical and romantic.
Overall, I am sorry to say that I did not enjoy the play Metamorphoses, nor did my husband. I think this is mainly because we are not into mythology but personally, I don’t think the play was well written or put together. Most of the stories were too heavy, strange, and tragic to be made light of or it was not done successfully here. I don’t think it was the fault of the actors or director, I think it was the fault of the playwright/script or even the subject matter. Although I loved the set and lighting and found them interesting, I walked away from the theater dissatisfied. There was no substance, and I did not feel really entertained. I did not get a nice meaty story to take with me and ponder on later nor was I happy with the memory of laughter of the funniness of the play. Oh well – at least I didn’t leave with a headache.
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