Tantallon Community Players’ try at the show has some successful moments, but the production frequently underlines the perils of biting off more than a group can chew.
For all of Jekyll and Hyde‘s talk about the duality of good and evil in all of us, chortling, bestial, chemically-induced villainy, however well performed, does not begin to touch the depths of what human beings can do to themselves and others.
“Trust the material.” That theatrical principle, above all in plays that have successfully entertained audiences for 400+ years, is a key to satisfying productions.
As challenging as Greek tragedy can be for a community theater, it can be effectively presented without elaborate stagecraft, and the simplicity of the set and lighting design worked well for this production.
Folger’s Cyrano is a splendid production that looks and sounds good and illuminates the play’s characters and feelings as no other production of the play I have encountered.
When at the top of their game, the first-rate community theaters in the Washington area produce shows the quality of which exceeds that of many of the area’s professional troupes.
National Pastime receives a spirited and entertaining production from the Keegan Theater.
Round and Round the Garden is not based on extensive physical comedy, but the lame tennis ball game that turns seamlessly into a seduction is beautifully realized.
The problem for the merely human actors in any production of Little Shop of Horrors comes to this: how do you compete with a large, carnivorous, hungry, demanding, extraterrestrial plant?
The audience is treated to a remote, gloomy mansion; a saucy, seductive maid; a sleazy blackmailer; a formerly wealthy family with skeletons in its closet; a trenchcoat-clad detective; and even a dark and stormy night.