The Primary Importance of the Actor's Talent in a Play
The most memorable part of a play that a person remembers when he or she leaves the theater are the people that came together as a group to make the production happen. The scenery, lighting, and special effects should not overpower the performance of the actors. It also should not determine whether or not a play is successful. Theatre production such as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is an example of the play that had wonderful playwright and performers.It is very difficult to know where the line is drawn when it comes to how many supportive measures one uses for a production and when it just comes to be too much. A theatre production is successful because of the talent of its performers and its playwright.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime was a production that had talented actors, but their talent was overpowered by a complex set as well as an overuse of special effects. This production was originally a book and was made into a play by Simon Stephens. The actors he casted such as Joseph Ayre, who played the main character Christopher, were perfect for the production. He was able to correctly portray the life of a child with autism and how the brain of an autistic child operates. The audience was really able to feel all of the emotions and struggles that he had to go through on an everyday basis. It is very difficult to act out the symptoms of a disorder that many people don’t understand.
An additional actor that added to the play was Nicolas Tennant who played Ed Boone, Christopher’s father. He was full of emotions of anger and displayed to the audience how much patience and calmness the parents of an autistic child need to make the relationship between them work. Where the production could have been better were in the category of the set and the lighting. It was overwhelming and took away from parts of the actors performance. The role of the lightning and video designers were taken by Paule Constable and Finn Ross. The use of the set, props, lighting and sound in a production should all be supportive and add depth to each of the characters roles. The lighting and sound were obnoxious and distracted the audience from the acting that was going on. Although the set looked really interesting it was way too much. The play could have been just as successful with a less “flashy” set and simpler special effects.
In conclusion, it doesn’t take an elaborate set or a performance of flashing lights and obnoxiously loud sound effects to make a theatre production successful. It is the talent of the actors and the playwright that determine how well a play does. The audience of a play is supposed to come and see a production because of the people that are in it and not the other aspects of it which are supposed to be merely supportive. John Goodman said, “Actors are there to entertain people”. A production is successful when its actors are able to accomplish this. It takes a special commitment from the actors and the playwright to the production in order for the audience to truly feel as if the story that they are actin in is actually real.
