By Octavius Toliver-Flient
The name of the play is “Doubt” and it was performed in the Brown Auditorium of the McPherson College.
If I was a costume designer, my reaction to the play would be very positive towards the fit of the costumes in the play. I love how the costumes were dark to metaphorically show how the characters try to hide some of their emotions. To put this into better words, the costumes the characters wore, showed modesty. I see how the costumes were supposed to show an example of how the characters should keep themselves emotionally composed. As a costume designer, I would indeed be impressed by the costumes.
As a makeup artist, I would be very content with the makeup because any more makeup added to the characters would have been unnecessary. Knowing how the play went along and what the characters’ personality traits are, the makeup fit totally fine.
As a props artisan, I would be a little disappointed by the fact that there were not many props used for the play. I feel like this play had opportunities to utilize more props and should have used them. For example, the scene where Father Flynn was teaching the players basketball, no basketballs were used. I just feel like it would add a little more emotion to the play as a whole, to use necessary props.
What I noticed about the actors, was how they are quiet and stationary in the background. They behaved like you usually see an audience behave in a church. The play took a very different approach with that. Whenever the focus was off the actors who were not supposed to be present during the scene, they would sit down up-stage of the set, where they were quiet but could still be seen. It is very interesting because you never see actors do that in other plays. This speaks a lot of volume about how the play was closely connected with its audience members. Not only that, but also the audience was positioned close up to the actors in order for us to sense more of a touch from the play’s aura.
The set of the play gives off a very strict mood. We see on the down-stage a desk, chairs, pens, pencils, paper, etc., everything that shows how authoritative and competitive some of the characters are.
The sound of the play varies a bit. Even though there was no music played during the play, the emotions of the characters expressed enough. The arguing, the authority, and the anger in some of their dialogues, is how the sound was expressed to the audience.
There are a number of themes that I got out of this play. The themes tackled the aspects of unsureness and openness of truth. The play shows how doubt can negatively affect people’s lifestyles, whether it be their perceptions, relationships or actions. We also see how the play touches into the differences between certainty and uncertainty, showing the moral difficulties the characters express. Sister Aloysius represents a slight sign of dictatorship because of her authority and objectivity towards her actions and beliefs. Father Flynn, on the other hand, represents a more open-minded and developed type of character.
What I mainly got out of this play, is that the truth will not always come out when it is supposed to. Doubt can lead you both ways, the right or wrong one. It is a reminder that we need to be more observant of our actions and take a step back, to see where or what we are headed into.
Overall, I think this was a brilliant play not only because the set up stands out from other plays that I saw in the past. It is very well put together and has earned all my respect.
