Shaw shanked without redemption
By: Stefanie Baker
Issue date: 12/9/09 Section: Entertainment
George Bernard Shaw was rolling over in his grave last Saturday night as his play Arms and the Man was being performed at the Prospect Theater Project in Modesto.
This work of Shaw's, which satirizes naive and idealistic notions of love and wartime heroism, is quite dynamic, interesting, and engaging…if it is done right. Unfortunately, Heike Hambley's production missed the mark in every way.
I was on the edge of my seat through the entire performance for all of the wrong reasons. I kept hoping and praying for a redeeming aspect of the production that never came. Let me preface this by saying that I am not a difficult audience member to please. The goal in the theatre is to get the audience members to willingly suspend their disbelief. This is quite difficult for some people; they just cannot seem to let themselves get emotionally involved in a show. I am not one of those people. On the contrary, I enjoy believing what is happening on stage and that is usually quite an easy task. It takes quite a bit to turn me off to a show, but this production succeeded.
To say that the technical aspects of this production were disappointing would be an understatement. Granted, the Prospect Theater is a very tiny space and that in itself presents complication. This having been said, all of the designers involved in this production failed to acknowledge that fact and design accordingly. When the audience member farthest from your stage is only ten feet away, attention to detail is crucial. The floor of the set appeared to be linoleum, and it had faux grout lines poorly painted on it and what appeared to be a small, raised, hardwood dance floor in the middle.
I kept waiting for the hardwood area to be utilized in some way that would provide logic for this admittedly distracting choice, but it never happened. Other off-putting set choices (or non-choices) included mismatched rugs that dropped down over steps leading to the stage, a large square of Astroturf, very cheap-looking fake foliage, exposed electrical cords, and a fireplace with no back that you looked straight through.
This work of Shaw's, which satirizes naive and idealistic notions of love and wartime heroism, is quite dynamic, interesting, and engaging…if it is done right. Unfortunately, Heike Hambley's production missed the mark in every way.
I was on the edge of my seat through the entire performance for all of the wrong reasons. I kept hoping and praying for a redeeming aspect of the production that never came. Let me preface this by saying that I am not a difficult audience member to please. The goal in the theatre is to get the audience members to willingly suspend their disbelief. This is quite difficult for some people; they just cannot seem to let themselves get emotionally involved in a show. I am not one of those people. On the contrary, I enjoy believing what is happening on stage and that is usually quite an easy task. It takes quite a bit to turn me off to a show, but this production succeeded.
To say that the technical aspects of this production were disappointing would be an understatement. Granted, the Prospect Theater is a very tiny space and that in itself presents complication. This having been said, all of the designers involved in this production failed to acknowledge that fact and design accordingly. When the audience member farthest from your stage is only ten feet away, attention to detail is crucial. The floor of the set appeared to be linoleum, and it had faux grout lines poorly painted on it and what appeared to be a small, raised, hardwood dance floor in the middle.
I kept waiting for the hardwood area to be utilized in some way that would provide logic for this admittedly distracting choice, but it never happened. Other off-putting set choices (or non-choices) included mismatched rugs that dropped down over steps leading to the stage, a large square of Astroturf, very cheap-looking fake foliage, exposed electrical cords, and a fireplace with no back that you looked straight through.
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