Seton Hill University’s (SHU) uninterrupted performance of the 15th century Christian-themed play �Everyman� did nothing short of captivating patrons of Reeves Theatre.
The entire plot was masterfully wrapped around the circular nature of life. Struggles with money and power were contrasted to goodness and holistic living. At the end of the play, the actors show that with good deeds, one need not fear betrayal by anything in life.
By Krista Held,
Contributor
Seton Hill University’s (SHU) uninterrupted performance of the 15th century Christian-themed play �Everyman� did nothing short of captivating patrons of Reeves Theatre.
The entire plot was masterfully wrapped around the circular nature of life. Struggles with money and power were contrasted to goodness and holistic living. At the end of the play, the actors show that with good deeds, one need not fear betrayal by anything in life.
The old English script was left intact for the performance, while the songs were adapted by director Terry Brino-Dean from the Indigo Girls. It was certainly refreshing to hear the stark contrast of hundreds of years of adaptations to the language, and I believe that the plot would have been hard to grasp without modern music bringing the ideas home to listeners.
The actors and actresses were superb. There was nary a fudged line nor pause, and all who participated seemed to be right on cue and on task. The props were extremely humble in nature, which fit perfectly with the spiritual focus of the play.
I thought I could have been treated better by one of the ushers, who took my ticket and kept taking tickets while I stood idly in the hallway after inquiring where my seat was.
I also thought that, though moving, some of the songs made the play far too long and arborous and could have been omitted. I found my normally long attention span being distracted more than once toward the end.
The drum circle at the beginning in and of itself was great, but it fit in with neither the medieval nor modern sides, and I found it awkward.
All in all, the SHU performance makes an above average grade with the adaptations
implemented, and all involved should be commended for their performance.
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