Butterflies Are Free
Mon, 19 June 2000, 10:12 amWalter Plinge21 posts in thread
Butterflies Are Free
Mon, 19 June 2000, 10:12 amOK, no-ones been doing any reviewing lately, which is a bit frustrating/disappointing, so I'm going to jump right in and give the usual 2 cents worth!
"Butterflies are free" is, thankfully, a short play, focusing on a day in the life of blind teenager (we assume, his age is never given) Donny. The play opens quite slowly, and the first 15-20 minutes left me wondering if it was worth staying for the rest. The pace drags becuase we have to "learn" the Don is blind by watching him navigate his apartment a couple of times, which I felt was a bit unnecessary. Playing a blind role is obviously a challenge for a "seeing" actor, but I think Tom Milton pulled it off with a reasonable amount of conviction and believablilty - with a requisite amount of overplaying the disability to highlight it for the audience (and a lot of fortuitious props placing). The play starts to falter, however, on the entrance of "Mrs Benson", Colette Winchester's character - a been-there-done-that free love girl. Her accent unfortunately has serious problems, being only occasionly recognisable as American and often slipping into rather "occer" (spelling?) Australian which jars completely. Indeed, Colette seems miscast in the role, failing to relate any kind of "free spirit" the character calls for- A disappointing performace. The final two characters, Don's Mother and supposed "Rival" (an off-broadway director) played thier thin characters well. Don's mother brought a touching third dimension to the traditional domineering mother figure, precipiating a pleasingly emotional scene towards the end of the play, while Shenandoah's character ("Ralph" I think it was) was merely a plot device and thus difficult to portray with any real depth. His off-hand manner worked well though, although again, the accent could do with some work. Set was detailed and appropriate with un-obtrusive lighting. Overall, "Butterflies" is a mediocre play, done to the best of the cast's abilities. A trite, sentimental comedy which belongs in the period it is set.
anyway - don't take offense anyone - I just want to get other people reviewing things and hearing the "truth" about their performances - not just what their friends and family compliment them with!
Bye =D
SS
"Butterflies are free" is, thankfully, a short play, focusing on a day in the life of blind teenager (we assume, his age is never given) Donny. The play opens quite slowly, and the first 15-20 minutes left me wondering if it was worth staying for the rest. The pace drags becuase we have to "learn" the Don is blind by watching him navigate his apartment a couple of times, which I felt was a bit unnecessary. Playing a blind role is obviously a challenge for a "seeing" actor, but I think Tom Milton pulled it off with a reasonable amount of conviction and believablilty - with a requisite amount of overplaying the disability to highlight it for the audience (and a lot of fortuitious props placing). The play starts to falter, however, on the entrance of "Mrs Benson", Colette Winchester's character - a been-there-done-that free love girl. Her accent unfortunately has serious problems, being only occasionly recognisable as American and often slipping into rather "occer" (spelling?) Australian which jars completely. Indeed, Colette seems miscast in the role, failing to relate any kind of "free spirit" the character calls for- A disappointing performace. The final two characters, Don's Mother and supposed "Rival" (an off-broadway director) played thier thin characters well. Don's mother brought a touching third dimension to the traditional domineering mother figure, precipiating a pleasingly emotional scene towards the end of the play, while Shenandoah's character ("Ralph" I think it was) was merely a plot device and thus difficult to portray with any real depth. His off-hand manner worked well though, although again, the accent could do with some work. Set was detailed and appropriate with un-obtrusive lighting. Overall, "Butterflies" is a mediocre play, done to the best of the cast's abilities. A trite, sentimental comedy which belongs in the period it is set.
anyway - don't take offense anyone - I just want to get other people reviewing things and hearing the "truth" about their performances - not just what their friends and family compliment them with!
Bye =D
SS
RE: Butterflies Are Free
Mon, 19 June 2000, 10:54 amIsn't it amazing that two people can see the same play yet see such utterly different things.
I went and saw "Butterflies are Free" on the opening night and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was, for a change a nice story with likable characters, in a world which seems to value darkness and angst.
The actors aquitted themselves beautifully. While Colettes accent was at times a problem, I thought her portrayal of Mrs Bensen had exactly the right mix of innocence and worldliness and just when you were willing to write her off as an airhead, she suddenly proved to be more shrewd then all of them, without losing the youthful playfulness she brought to the character. The play really fired though with the arrival of the mother, an actor whos name I did not catch but who really ought to be congrtulated for her studied and in depth portrayal of a character who could so easily have been a stereotype. Shenan was, as usual slightly bemused and a beautiful contrast to Tom, who really shone in his role of the blind young man. (I don't think he was a teenager, I got the impression he was early twenties).
My only critisism was that the climax of the play was a bit drawn out and overly dramatic, but this is the fault of the script not the production. I really liked the play and, more importantly I liked and cared about the characters. They managed to be dynamic in a fairly static play and I thought that was quite an acheivement.
Oh and Collette, you brave thing. The world is never going to see my undies if I can help it, expecially not in a very chilly hall in the middle of winter. But you got quite a reaction from a certain ITA President who was sitting next to me!
I went and saw "Butterflies are Free" on the opening night and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was, for a change a nice story with likable characters, in a world which seems to value darkness and angst.
The actors aquitted themselves beautifully. While Colettes accent was at times a problem, I thought her portrayal of Mrs Bensen had exactly the right mix of innocence and worldliness and just when you were willing to write her off as an airhead, she suddenly proved to be more shrewd then all of them, without losing the youthful playfulness she brought to the character. The play really fired though with the arrival of the mother, an actor whos name I did not catch but who really ought to be congrtulated for her studied and in depth portrayal of a character who could so easily have been a stereotype. Shenan was, as usual slightly bemused and a beautiful contrast to Tom, who really shone in his role of the blind young man. (I don't think he was a teenager, I got the impression he was early twenties).
My only critisism was that the climax of the play was a bit drawn out and overly dramatic, but this is the fault of the script not the production. I really liked the play and, more importantly I liked and cared about the characters. They managed to be dynamic in a fairly static play and I thought that was quite an acheivement.
Oh and Collette, you brave thing. The world is never going to see my undies if I can help it, expecially not in a very chilly hall in the middle of winter. But you got quite a reaction from a certain ITA President who was sitting next to me!
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