NoVa Woodbridge Theatre Group The Boat Never Leaves
By Laura Clark • Jul 12th, 2010 • Category: ReviewsNoVa Woodbridge Theatre Group
Lakeside Theater, NVCC Woodbridge Campus
Through July 17th
1:40 with one intermission
$10/$5 Students, Faculty/Staff, Seniors, Children, Military
Reviewed July 9th, 2010
The Boat Never Leaves is an interactive mystery developed by the cast and crew of the Nova Woodbridge Theatre Group. The basic story concerned a group of people stranded on a deserted island for the reading of a will. There were the right amount of twists and turns that made you wonder what was going on. Because of the improvisational nature it will be interesting to see if the ending changes each night or stays the same.
However, the acting was a drawback to the performance. The actors did not develop their characters and appeared to simply play themselves onstage in front of an audience.
Iago Andko, the dead man’s business partner, was played by Andrew Roberds. He did pull off a Russian accent respectably throughout the show. There were a couple characters who tried to elicit some emotion other than annoyance. The slapsticking comedian Rebecca Times (Jasmine Bull) could not enter a room without falling over, knocking something over, or throwing up. It was funny the first few times, but then grew old. Diamond Castro as Josephine Helmsley cried believably with the right touch of over dramatization.
The set changes went quickly and smoothly. There was an ax used in several scenes, but unfortunately the actors didn’t respect the weight of the prop as the evening wore on, which made the gag less funny than it could have been. The show ended abruptly, with the audience unsure if the play had actually concluded completely.
This was an interesting script that needed more time for character development to make it a believable production.
Cast
- William Helmsley: Michael Green
- Savannah Helmsley: Jessie Barnett
- Iago Andko: Andrew Roberds
- Marque Helmsley: Josh Bryant
- Scarlett Manson: Rebecca Pfister
- Rebecca Times: Jasmine Bull
- Barnes: Brian Bardwell
- Thorton Helmsley, IV: Michael Green
- Josephine Helmsley: Diamond Castro
Crew
- Director: Ashlee Reynolds
- Technical Director: Brian Bardwell
- Consultant: E. Trumbell
- Lighting/Sound: Myron Rahynes
Disclaimer: NoVa Woodbridge Theatre Group provided a complimentary media ticket to ShowBizRadio for this review.
This article can be linked to as: http://washingtondc.showbizradio.com/goto/5247.
Laura Clark started ShowBizRadio in August 2005. Laura has performed in local productions and worked back stage. She will be stage managing The Taming of the Shrew, to be performed by Castaways Repertory Theatre in January 2012. She earned a Career Studies Certificate in Theater from Northern Virginia Community College. Laura is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association.