John Xing BLK D
2015/10/17
Creative Writing 11 Play Review:
The Tenant of WildFell Hall
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Freddy
Wood Theater and see Playwright Alumna Sarah Rodgers’s theatrical production of
Anne Brontë’s novel The Tenant of
WildFell Hall, a somber English feminist drama set in the 19th
century.
The story sets into motion with Helen Graham, a mysterious
widow in her mid-twenties, moving to WildFell Hall with a young son. Though she
attempts to distance herself from the villagers and their prying questions with
a veneer of politeness, Helen is nevertheless beset with nasty gossips about
her relationship with Frederick Lawrence, who is actually her brother, and
Gilbert Markham, the passionate, charming protagonist. As the story progresses,
Helen falls in love with her charismatic, persistent neighbor farmer, Gilbert, and
reveals to him her history and the fact that she is hiding away from an abusive,
womanizing husband before visiting her husband one last time at his deathbed.
Gilbert faithfully waits for Helen for two years and the story ends happily
with the reunion of the two.
The overall acting in the play was solid but
too rigid. Meegin Pye’s Helen was too positively callous and lacked the empathy
and contradicting emotions that should be possess by a persona such as Helen. However,
Pye did maintain an appropriate cadence and demeanor for her role as she spoke
mostly in a somewhat monotone tone and kept her countenance mostly devoid of
emotion except for a light touch of sorrow. On the other hand, Francis Winter’s
Gilbert Markham was perhaps the most accurate portrayal among the cast of
characters. He played the role of a headstrong and passionate young man with an
iron determination and youthful strength that was fit for such an emotional
character. His voice and wild gestures, which were filled with ardor and
cavalier naiveté, applied a strong force to the course of the plot, which would
otherwise flag due to the despondency and moderation of all the other
characters. As for Thomas Elms’ Arthur Huntingdon, he held an air of swagger
and flamboyance that was over-the–top and lacked the subtlety that should be a
prevailing characteristic of a lady-killer like Arthur. The depiction of Arthur
was too straightforward and detracted from the intricacy of the plot. Among the
supplementary characters, Kelsey Ranshaw’s Mrs. Wilson left a lasting
impression. Her foolish comments and constant prying adds the slight touch of
jocularity to an otherwise bleak setting; her bubbly curiosity and continuous
jabbering in untimely situations distinguishes her as the clown of the show.
Despite a few minor faults, the cast had good coordination and moved the story
along smoothly.
Rodger does a mediocre job in terms of the set, portraying
the bucolic scene of Yorkshire in a rather simplistic representation: the
furnishings and building are either unsophisticated or nonextant, giving the
entire stage a rather empty sensation. The choices of costumes, however, did mark
each character with a distinct and stereotypical role, causing audience no trouble
distinguishing one character from another. To compromise for the lack of props,
Rodger artfully incorporated variegated lighting effects to enable the audience
focus more on the character interactions rather than the setting, facilitating
the delivery of the play’s details. The blocking and transitions provided
smooth segues from one scene to the next considering that there were no
assistants to help move the props. Overall, Rodger made the best out of her
available resources.
The most innovative aspect of this play is perhaps the
stilted platform. Not having a door as an indication of segregation between
spaces, Rodger simply placed a tilted platform to symbolize a specific space.
This allowed the diary of Helen to be read by Gilbert off the platform and the
past of Helen to be played out on the platform, allowing the audience to grasp
the difference between present and past. Dividing the stage into specific
spaces using numerous props perhaps would have given each setting a better
depiction; however, the innovation of Rodger was fresh and intriguing.
The intricate plot was perhaps the
driving force of the entire play. It not only reveals the difficulties of life
but also alludes to various controversial topics during the 19th
century such as sexism, feminism, and love. In spite of the many enrapturing
aspects of the paly, the natural resolution of the conflict with the demise of
Arthur and the tidy ending of Helen and Gilbert was rather disappointing as a
drama as such should have unresolved issues in order to leave the audience with
space for imagination. The plot was rather fatalistic because everything fell
into place in an awkward manner with much effort in the part of the characters.
Holistically, the play was good but
not spectacular. Some of the characters could have had more flexibility and the
settings could have been made more sophisticated and representational of the
time period. Despite these setbacks, the plot was very enrapturing (particularly
in the second half), and the ambiance of the various scenes were appropriate
and believable. I would give this play a 3.5 out of 5.
