Paul Bott]
“I told myself after seeing this production of The Grapes of Wrath, currently playing at the Imagination Theater in Placerville, I told myself that I would write some kind of review or just something to express how I felt about the play.
It’s now been two weeks since I’ve seen that show for the first time, and have now seen it two more times and plan to see it again on the 18th and then again on the final day.
I guess the reason I haven’t written anything is because the show is so powerful and it really takes time I suppose, to digest the message and to appreciate the voice of John Steinbeck, who wrote the play,
I will say the play is powerful and moving but I will also say that it mirrors our society today and what we are facing with regard to the economy, jobs and even food and education. To see the struggle of these people, the Joad family, is to see ourselves and wonder if we as individuals and families would have the strength to survive the tribulations that they went through.
The first night I saw the show, I was sitting next to the director, Lanny Langford, and after the final curtain call, and based upon his direction and his casting I simply turned to him and asked “how did you do this”. I also asked him if perhaps this may have been his best work to date and he smiled modestly and said perhaps.
This to me as a directors show, and this particular director took the show and choreographed all of the lives involved in telling the story, seamlessly.
It is so hard to point to one particular aspect of the show that stands out, because it all works together so well. Of course Steinbeck is eloquent and prophetic, his words are the story and unlike most shows, or even books you will be drawn into the story, you will find yourself living as an observer or even as part of his play as the reality, and the mastery invite you in and you become part of the whole.
There were some outstanding performances of course, but before I name a few I just want to say that the show was perfectly cast and every actor was exceptional.
Never mind I changed my mind, because it’s really not a show that rests on the shoulders of one actor, one actor does not carry the show. The shower is carried by the brilliant writing and the brilliant directing.
I’m this, because there’s only a few weeks left for you to see something historically brilliant. Something like this doesn’t pass through Placerville very often and we should all as a community take advantage of this production.
Last night when I saw the show, towards the end I cried or wept and I recognized the struggle and the hope within the struggle to come out of it a better person.
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