A
Review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Last Thursday, I watched the play "The Tenant
of Wildfell Hall" directed by Sarah Rodgers, which was at the Frederic
Wood Theatre. It was quite an interesting play to watch for me, particularly because
it was quite wordy, which I assume it was because the play was an adaptation
from Anne Bronte's novel.
The
play starts out with a set in 19th century U.K, showing a small group of people
from the same village, gossiping about with each other about a mysterious new
lady that just moved in to town, specifically into the house, Wildfell Hall. The
woman, Helen Graham (Meegin Pye), does not reveal anything about her past life
before she moved to Wildfell Hall, which makes some citizens very curious, and
some others quite upset. Eventually, a young, flirtatious man named Gilbert
(Francis Winter) falls hopelessly in love with Helen, mostly because of her
very "unladylike" views on woman's rights of independence and
strength. Throughout the story, Gilbert
slowly learns the truth behind Helen's past life; about how she abandoned her
unfaithful and controlling husband and came to Wildfell Hall.
The
acting was quite good in general, although there were some slight issues, such
as all the actors standing in a line, talking with each other. For some scenes,
the dialogue seemed to turn into monotone chatter. Another inconsistency I
noticed were the accents. I could not tell if they were trying to speak in an
English accent, Scottish accent, or an American Canadian accent. Other than those
problems, the actors and actresses filled their roles very well. For most of
the time, the dialogue was snappy, witty, and very emotional. I think that
there was quite a lot of tension when Gilbert had seen Helen hugging another
man (Frederick Lawrence), making Gilbert quite jealous and angry, eventually
leading to him hitting the man, which also eventually ended in him finding out that the man was Helen's
brother. The anger in that scene was very well portrayed, and put me on the
edge.
In
my opinion, the best experiences from the play were from the lighting, music,
and costumes. Those three effects combined immediately put me in the mood for a
good 19th century story, and it certainly delivered the feeling as well. The
set and costume designer (Jacqueline Firkins) did a fine job in interpreting
the play onto the stage. The lighting was very simple, usually a solid color in
the background that changed color when the scenes changed to represent a
certain mood of that scene. For example, when Gilbert would get angry, the
background color would be a dark orange or a very light crimson color, giving the
audience a slightly agitated, empathetic feeling for Gilbert. The music, which
was scattered throughout the play, were light romantic-era pieces that really
brought the mood of being in the 1800's. The music especially set the mood
before the play, as it gave a sophisticated and calm feeling, as you would
expect from a small town in Scotland. The music also assisted greatly in the
scene changes, as it made the set changes and transitions a lot less awkward. The
costumes were the real selling point in the play for me. Every single detail on
the costumes were tuned to perfection, from the boots to the sideburns on the
men. All of the costumes were also quite simple, each costume defining the
character that wore it. For example, Helen wore a simple black dress the whole
play, showing her slight mourning side of a "widow", while Gilbert
also wore simple clothing of a farmer boy, to show his raucousness and his
countryside playfulness.
Overall,
I think that the play was well-executed and very fluid with transitions. The
set and costume design was the main winning point, as they were completely
perfect, matching the time period and country. The acting was very convincing,
as they portrayed their characters fully with no flaws. Especially since the
play was derived from the novel, I think that it was a very well polished
performance and script, other than some minor issues in dialogue. The messages
in the book were well portrayed in the play, such as the themes of female independence
and the somewhat unfair patriarchal society that was in place during the 1800's.
Although the play had quite a small cast, they managed to convey the feeling of
watching an intricate and complex play. I would recommend this play to all
people who love a good story that is quite unpredictable, yet calm and also
unnerving at times.