Spring Senior Thesis Show Review
The theater department held a thesis festival three weeks ago, with two back-to-back one-act plays: Daniel Yogi’s “Pride and Prejudice” and Jody Read’s “The Amazing Cunt and Lil’ Bitch take Portland.”
The festival opened with “Pride and Prejudice,” billed as a staged reading of the book. And, indeed, it could have functioned well as an audiobook as every action was narrated by the actors. Both Joaquin Pellegrin-Alvarez’s “Darcy” and Molly Brownson’s “Elizabeth” had strong vocal performances; Elizabeth’s dialogue was beautifully varied in cadence and pitch and never got sucked into monotony, though her breakneck speed made some lines nearly unintelligible.
But, of course, it wasn’t just an audiobook and the standout star of the show’s visual offerings was the incredible set design. The color palette, attention to detail, balance, and symmetry felt unified and at home in the world of the play, but were subtle enough to not distract away from the action onstage.
The costuming, too, was effective and strong. Both characters were immediately recognizable, and the costumes felt tailored not just to the actor, but also to the character. Darcy’s was simple, crisp, and understated, while Elizabeth’s successfully navigated the fine line between ornate and gaudy.
Sadly, the physicality, blocking, and expression that might have tied all these disparate parts together was often subpar. Both performances seemed like they were going for ‘formal,’ but ended up at ‘stiff.’ Dignity need not mean motionless; ballet, for example, is often formal and precise but is nevertheless still expressive and fluid. And there were several challenges that should have been obvious and easy to rectify. For example, a scene in Lady Catherine’s house at Rosings where Elizabeth plays the piano was hamstrung by the fact that Brownson's vague desk tapping looked very obviously nothing like piano playing. Had she only “played” at the beginning of the scene, pausing when she starts talking, had the piano been turned at an angle, had the set included a small plank in front of her hands (kinda like a real piano), or any number of other simple fixes been applied, this problem would have vanished.
This is only one example of many moments in the show that were sabotaged by simple mistakes. Elizabeth and Darcy’s love scene – beautiful and powerful enough to bring people back to Pride and Prejudice for generations – felt flat and boring. It mostly ignored nearly universal shorthands for ‘love scenes,’ like slowing the pacing, showing the stakes by having the actors drawn closer together, or moments of shared gaze. Or for another example, Darcy’s arc, rather than showing his growth and change throughout the story, saw him just as brusque and cold at Pemberley in his final moments as he was in his first scene. In other words, despite moments of individual success, even brilliance, from everyone involved, the show felt like less than the sum of its parts.
The next show, and a wild departure in tone and mood, was the hilarious, horrifying, grandiose, and intimate “The Amazing Cunt and Lil’ Bitch Take Portland.” This show was a masterclass in tension. I left the theater sweating, not realizing I had been holding my breath. The delightfully drawn-out pacing left every moment feeling exciting and sharp. This production knew what many Hollywood horror and romance blockbusters don’t: that the key to tension is anticipation. For every minute of action, there were ten minutes where the audience got to wait for the other shoe to drop. The show played almost gleefully with a variety of mediums and even more varied emotional beats, swinging frantically from tragic to cathartic to comedic. Both Erin Matlock as “Cunt” and Tia Muehr as “Lil’ Bitch” were showstopping. Although there were moments when Matlock’s dialogue suffered from quietude, or where many actors’ lines got lost under the louder sounds of action or movement, neither of these issues was enough to seriously damage anyone's performance or the emotional weight of the show. The moments that the play felt less polished, like Muehr’s solo closing number, were often counterpoised with incredibly polished moments of choreography or recording, which made the former feel intimate and personal rather than inexperienced.
On the note of polish, the tech of this show was incredible. Complex set and costume changes moved snappily enough to not hamper the sharp, pounding pace of the show, and the lighting was able to feel powerful, oppressively dim for some scenes but also more traditionally spotlighted and free for others.
I don’t know if the pairing of these specific plays was intentional, but their juxtaposition worked beautifully. The tone of the plays had enough contrast to leave both feeling unique and refreshing compared to each other, but common themes of complicated love, individual or vigilante justice, and the impact of societal forces like class and patriarchy on individuals kept them from feeling random or disjointed. The night was a testament to the creativity and potential in the theater department, and of student-led theater.