Theatrical Adaptation

Losers - The Value of Multiple Viewings

When my parents told me they were coming to see me in Brian Friel’s play Lovers, they said they would be attending both the 2:00pm and the 7:30pm performances on Saturday, September 30. I immediately discouraged them from doing so. I thought that the play was pretty straightforward and that it was not necessary to see it twice. However, my mother insisted on coming and told me that the only way to truly understand a theatrical production is to see it more than once. Now that the play is over I can see that she was right, especially about act one.

Between the multiple rehearsals and run-throughs I had become extremely familiar with the script and the characters. I knew the play like the back of my hand, and to me everything was obvious and set in place. However I think that as an actress in the production, I had forgotten that the audience knows nothing of the background of the characters or the plot. This is important because it means that the audience is jumping into the story with no concept of what to expect. Such a lack of prior knowledge could cause an audience member to miss certain key facts in the story; thus leading to great confusion. Take for example the two characters sitting on either side of the stage. In the beginning, their narrations follow along with the actions of the main characters. They describe Joe and Mag as they climb to the top of Ardnageeha on June 4th. By the end of the story however, they are speaking about events that take place after the death of both Mag and Joe up to a month later. This could be confusing to the audience especially since both characters are still on stage and the action that occurs between them is still taking place on June 4th. Therefore, there are essentially two time periods being depicted on stage at the same time. Should the audience not understand this concept, they would have a hard time understanding the irony of the entire act. In this case, viewing the show a second time would be beneficial. At a second viewing an audience member would be able to appreciate the story more because they would already understand from the beginning that the man and woman dressed in black are narrators and that Mag and Joe are acting out of the past.

Seeing the play a second time would also help bring the other characters mentioned in the play to life. The play Lovers is filled with many facts and names that can potentially be lost in the dialogue. I know that I never paid much attention to what was said about the parents and friends of both characters until about a week into rehearsal. Since Mag and Joe were the only characters that actually appeared on stage, I naturally disregarded most of the other characters that were brought up in conversation. However, I think that by seeing the show twice, the audience would pay more attention to she names of the parents and friends because of their familiarity, and would thus be able to gain a better understanding of the outside world and family life of the two characters. After all, an interesting aspect of the play is the relationship between the two characters and their parents and how that affects how they relate to each other.

Therefore, I think that a play like Lovers deserves being watched more than once. I agree that an audience member that goes to see a show only once can walk out of the theatre feeling entertained or amused. However, going and seeing a show more than once can teach an audience member more about the worlds of the characters and the situations at hand. After all, a worth-while play will never cease to engage and give insight to the audience – even after repetitive viewings.

posted by Layne @ 2:01 AM