Play

University of South Carolina Department of Theater and Dance

presents 

Big Love

Describe: On November 13th at 7:30, the Longstreet Theater presented the play Big Love. A class of eight graduate student acting class and four undergraduate students comprise the cast of this play. The Longstreet Theater considered a theater in the round. The story line consists of 50 brides fleeing their arranged Greek marriages and arrive in a tiny Italian villiage. Their rejected fiances come looking for them and all is murdered but one. The playwright, Charles Mee, describes the one-in-50 survival rate "about the same odds as today."

Before the play started, two female actors and two men actors acted out the idea of love/hate relationships.

Analyze: The play consits of around 10 scenes. The progression of the story line is aided with musical enhancement. What I noticed that throughout the play, the actors never broke character. Even when they did not speak for minutes at a time, they continued to stay in character. Also, there was great unity among the actors. It wasn't a normal taken turns to recite their lines, there was a deep understanding fo the story. Their stage prescence enhanced the story with effective body language and eye contact. Before the play began, two female actors and two male actors were interacting as couples and enemies in a weird collage of movements. This forshadowed the fine line of hate and love for the play Big Love. There was no reservations among the actors as they were totally encompassed with each scene. In addition, the porps weren't too overbearing as they added essential objective ideas to the play.

Interpret: Although the play is consumed with a comidic take on love, the bigger picture defines that without love, we are not human. This was a hard idea for the character Thyona, the instigator of the brides, to understand. She took the defensive role on love. But in the end, the portait of the true love between Nikos and his bride persuades Thyona that without the presence of love, humans just exist. As a viewer, the play Big Love gave me the feeling or relatability. I think that the great thing of this play is that it depicts the all types of love, rather it be new, old, strong or weak, the viewer can relate to at least one character in the play. As Charles Mee said, the odds of the survival rate of love can be a metaphor for love today! Not only that, Big Love can be a metaphor for the trials and tribulations of love in todays society. Although we do not experience arranged marriages, we can attribute many of our successes and failures at love to a problem of society. The good news is that one of fifty relationships survived!

Judge: Although I love theater and love the arts, some parts of the play did not settle with me well. I was totally confused about the time the play took place. Some ideas reminded me of ancient Greece (and Italy) while some scences depicted traditions of modern day. For example, the idea that there are arranged marriages in Greece gave me the idea that this was play was centered years ago. Yet the last scene of the play was at the wedding of the true marriage, the song All the Single Ladies played by Beyonce (obviously modern day.) This was unsettling to me... maybe it was a personal disposition, but at times it overshawdowed the quality of the play. But in retrospect, it was a pleasant way to spend my Saturday night!