Play brings Greek mythology to life
Photo Credit: Justin Perry
Actors participate in a massive sword fight during the Battle of Troy
Related Content
Jared Santiago, Staff Writer
February 6, 2012
Filed under Entertainment, Student Life
Weight lifting heroes, guys versus girls narrating, and shape shifting into a bucket of water are not things that people think of when they think of Greek mythology, but those were major points in November’s play.
The play, called “The Greek Mythology Olympiaganza” was originally written by Don Zolidis and was put on by the IB Theater class on November 17th and 18th. The play is essentially a crash course in ancient Greek mythology. The play incorporated a game show called “Name That Monster,” which had a “random” audience member attempted to name a monster by just the sound of its growl, which the audience helped to make. The play as a whole reminded me a lot of freshman English, condensed into about two hours of laughter and fun.
The play was positively hilarious. The actors had the audience in stitches from beginning to end. The bickering of the two narrators, junior Jesse Howie and senior Eric Bray, was entertaining and had the audience rooting for a side. The narrators Howie and Bray were a special treat. Their conversations were believable, their actions were fitting for the tone of the play- spontaneous and side-splitting- and they led the action with superb ease. However, they did miss a couple of lines which lead to missed cues, but I only knew this because actors told me about it after the show.
The “accidental” falls of the actors were clever and well-executed, the costumes were wacky and random, and the acting was so ludicrous you could not tell the mishaps from the jokes and puns. The cast used the whole auditorium effectively and incorporated the audience well with the game show scene.
Left to right: Senior Robert Allen and juniors Tifferi' Hollins and Natalija Karan. Allen was wearing a dress as part of his role as a goddess. Photo by Justin Perry.
While all the students did an excellent job, there were a couple of actors with previous acting experience that stuck out in my mind. One such actor was Robert Allen who had four different roles in the play. The two which stood out were his roles as Castor, one of the shape-changing twins that could only change into a bucket of water, and Aphrodite, which allowed him to don a shiny red dress. Another actor who stood out was Trevor Fairbaugh who played the role of Paris of Troy, and was portrayed in a less than glamorous way. Nya Powell also played her multitude of roles with passion not often seen in high school actresses.
The crowd roared with laughter at Robert Allen’s Aphrodite costume, clenched their sides with the hilarity of Trevor Fairbaugh’s fight with Ismet Sujakovic, both juniors, and enjoyed the overall randomness of Drew Barrett, also a junior.
Junior Dean Boskovich performs during the production "The Greek Mythology Olympiagana." Photo by Justin Perry.
The stage crew as well as the light and sound managers performed their jobs excellently and the play went off without a hitch. The costumes, which were designed by junior Ikram Maghraoui, were relevant to the time period and they fit the character’s personality well. Theater teacher and drama club advisor Catherine Metz directed the rookie cast quite well.
This cast had a humorous and respectable performance, despite their inexperience. If this play was put on again I would most definitely spend the five dollars to see it a second time.
Loading ...