Shadow of a Gunman: Seeing Is Always Better

Today we saw a production of The Shadow of a Gunman, and it was awesome. I’m really glad we did the class reading beforehand, (1) because I knew what they were saying and (2) this let me focus on the actors and the production in general. The performance was definitely a lot different than our reading; Davoren was a lot more expressive than I was expecting, and a lot creepier (in his interactions with Minnie). I’m really not sure what she sees in him. He was also older than I was expecting: the script says he’s 30, but in the production he looks more like he’s at least in his 40s. Yet at the same time I wonder if this was intentional; maybe he’s meant to look worn down from all his various moves.

Though the production as a whole was really good, my favorite part was Seumas, who was hilarious, and his conversation with Maguire. (Playing Seumas’s tummy like a drum? Brilliant.) Though I wish his drawers had been a darker color (so that it would’ve been slightly more obvious that he was, in fact, wearing pants), he was really well acted, and helped me to understand his dialogue a lot better: I was confused, for instance, at the part where his suspenders broke, because I didn’t know what he meant by “There’s the braces after breakin’.” The one thing I might have changed was Davoren’s delivery of his final “pain, pain, pain ever, for ever!” His melodrama is a running joke throughout the play, but I would’ve liked to have seen him deliver this one last line as a subdued almost-whisper like a self-aware parody, as if he’s just now realizing how ridiculous he sounded, and how minor his problems were compared to Minnie’s death.

Possibly the best part of today was our backstage tour during the voice/text workshop: we got to see the entire set for Gunman, and the workshop teacher walked us through some of the details of production, such as their use of lights, their costumes, and the mini trampoline that would be used in Maguire’s death scene. The only part that disappointed me was the trampoline scene, because I missed it and I was really looking forward to it. :<

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About Carolyn

I design stuff and crusade against embarrassing grammar. While this tends to make me unpopular at parties, in unsolicited editing I remain unparalleled. For examples of my work, visit me at www.achikochidesign.com.
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