No direction home play review

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Gary Mandizha

No direction Home

Brian Jordan

Venue: School Drama studio

Viewed: 22/11/06

“No direction home” follows the story of three brothers and sisters, their estranged relationships and how they come to terms with the legacy of their parents' troubled separation when they were children. Now as adults the siblings are forced to address some unfinished business… The basic story line of the play was about Dee, Hal and Emily, how they were having great average lives as children at home. Dee was 10 years old. Emily was 16 years old. Hal was 14 years old. It starts off with the reunion of the three at the end point of the play. Hal comes on while there is music with dimmed lights has a monologue about his old life and how he missed his old room. It has been a long time since he has been in the house. Emily and Dee enter the house and Emily hears Hal’s whistling and singing. When he comes down he is shocked. Annoyed that Dee had lied to him about their meeting and so is Emily. Hal doesn’t want anything to do with Emily etc...

Flash-back of their past. Hal and Dee are coursing trouble. You see them experiencing very playful and fun pact childhood lives and one day they have an important conversation. They start discuss how they realize their parents aren’t getting on too well and might get a divorce. Hal comes up with crazy ideas to try and stop them. Emily says they are crazy but Hal says at least he is trying to help. Everyone eventually begins to gradually break down and losing their family love and are always getting on at each other.

Eventually the divorce is decided on and mom moves out. Hal decides to be one of the kids who goes with the mom. Emily and Dee don’t want him to go. Hal moves out of his old room and misses it. Hal a few months on gets into a big fight with Emily and tells her that he never wants to see her again if she keeps defending dad but tells Dee to keep in touch because she is too young.

From there the play develops back to the 3 as adults. Dee says he wants the two of them Emily and Hal to sort everything out so they can be a family again after 15 years. Hal looks at a letter their dad wrote them now that he is dad he could give him that last respect. Dad is very sorry about everything and how he couldn’t talk to Hal in person but says how it was all moms’ fault.

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The acting in the play was excellent I believe personally. I was particularly impressed by various fields of their work.

Hal (Actor):

I think the actor highlighted the subtleties of playing his part. I really felt as if I was not seeing the actor himself but the character he is supposed to be playing and in this case Hal. This might also have been due to the fact that as a group we had not heard the actor speaking or known his personal character at all before the start. As a 14 year old boy he was very playful ...

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