Saturday, November 14, 2009

Cleveland Play House: Inherit The Wind

I am conflicted about this show. However, my utter dislike of matinees in general has been reaffirmed.

For most of the first act I thought that the show was well paced both in the plot and the direction... but then things kind of fell apart and I was struggling to stay awake*.

The 2nd act was entertaining but the story seemed to drag; aside from the two attorneys, none of the characters seamed to be doing anything useful and the actors didn't seem to be doing anything to sell their characters. At one point during the bible/Darwin/bible thing in the courtroom I was waiting for the "Why Can't I Own Canadians" speech which would have added some levity... but it never came.

It wasn't until after the show had ended that I learned that the play was written in 1955 [which was a question I heard asked a dozen times during intermission] and as a critique on McCarthyism... something that as far as I could find was not mentioned in the program and certainly adds some very useful context and gives meaning to the play's existence.

Based largely on the "lack of selling" that I mentioned, I didn't feel a real connection with any of the characters and therefore didn't feel a connection to the story.

Throughout the 2nd act there was a persistent very high pitched screeching emanating from some indeterminate corner of the theater which was extraordinarily distracting.

Lincoln
* I don't think this was the play's fault based on my day Friday ending at 1:30 AM Saturday, the fact that I had just waked +/-6 miles [Shaker Lakes is beautiful this time of year!], and the fact that I need to be at the airport by 7:00 AM Tomorrow.

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