Essay on Critique: Performance and Play

Submitted By merpmerpmerp2
Words: 1782
Pages: 8

Kari Singleton
5-7-11
Hour 5th

Play Critique: Oklahoma I thought that the play Oklahoma was really boring and it had too much singing in it, but I will not disagree with the fact that the actual acting was really good. In my opinion, I feel like the pay could have used more dialogue rather than all the singing that happened. For me, a good play keeps you interested; with all the singing in the play, it was boring me to sleep. I feel like the director of the play could have done a better job by putting less singing and dancing and more actual dialogue. The theme was very interesting; it reminded me of an old Wild West film, the characters really played well with interacting with the theme their accents were on point for the theme. If anything I feel that the message was to not lead two guys on at once, or maybe to watch who you say yes to, obviously I didn’t get or understand the message that was trying to be sent across; so therefore, I do not think that it was portrayed in a well manor. If a director is trying to send a strong message he/she should not have done what he/she did in the play Oklahoma, that or he should hire better actors/actress’s to send the message across. The characters were very much so believable; I could tell when the character was sad/mad/happy/etc. All the characters were specific in what they wanted the audience to believe, for example, when Jud was mad at Curly and he wanted to take his place for the woman’s heart he got really angry and pulled a knife on Curly at the near end of Curly and the women’s wedding. And any other scene where Jud was angry was really believable for his character. I enjoyed this because it could help the audience get connected with Jud’s character specifically as well as all the other characters. This helped a lot with a universal appeal, because, anyone from young to old could feel the characters emotions and relate to what was going on. I think that the directing of the show could have been better. In terms of getting the message across I could not really see the message in a clear view, it was very hard to understand what the play was trying to get across with all the singing and dancing that was going on. Not to be underestimated that the dancing was very good as well as very good singing. But, that can put an audience to sleep from boredom. Even though I did not personally understand the message that was trying to be sent across, I did however notice that the movement/ transmission from scene to scene was impeccable and very well put together. I particularly liked when the woman main character was having her dream about Jud vs. Curly to marry and she entered dream world through the corn stalk. I liked how when she was with Curly everything was fine and dandy just the wedding a person could dream of, then when Jud came along the scene changed completely yet, it changed very smoothly. Everything from the lights and floor to the people in the background that were supposed to be Jud’s posy, it was just a really smooth transition and it was very entertaining to watch, it was probably my favorite part of the whole play. The actors that I thought made the entire play were Curly and Jud. They were the most believable yet, relatable and I feel that the director did a very well job casting them. I feel that Jud is relatable to most teens/ young adults because most people have to deal with losing someone they love to someone else. Jud’s character used a very well pronunciation of words and you could understand him well even with his accent he had to use also, he was well at projecting his voice so everyone in the audience could hear him. His body language was on point; every time he got upset he had a well use of gestures and stayed away from extraneous gestures. He would always run around when he would try to be threatening to someone and he would just sit around when he was thinking or day dreaming about the woman.
This is very normal for most people, so it