Review of “To kill a Mocking Bird” performed by the Queens Theatre touring company

The two scenes I didn't enjoy was when at the start they kept on playing music, it was very boring and didn't tell you when they were going to start. I would have changed this by having some western music like out of a cowboy film, I think this would have set the scene for the play and told you what era the play was from. The second scene I didn't like was the last scene where the man just stood there, I would have change this by having one of the characters go up and talk to him. If an actor went up to him I would have wanted them to ask him questions to get to the bottom of the story to wrap it up as I thought it had a shoddy ending.

The set was made up of an old house front from the 1930's in the southern states of America; there was a large porch on which the acting took place. The porch was used as the make believe court. On either side of the house were two benches on which the actors sat when not in a scene. I didn't think the set was great, I'm not expecting Broadway but the acting company could have been more creative by having two sets one on one side of the hall and one on the other. I did not like where the actor sat when not in scene because it got too crowded I would improve this by asking the actor to go behind the stage away from public view. The things that I would have changed about the set are to have a better background colour of the house instead of light pink, I would have had a dark grey to emphasise the mood of the play. I would have also changed where the actors sat, as it was too crowded.

The lighting they used wasn't that good because it was a fixed position it didn't move, it just focused on the stage that wasn't very creative at all. The effect the lighting had on the play wasn't much different then normal lights in our school, the only thing that was different about them is that they shone on the stage and not everywhere. I think the lighting wasn't that good I would have a spot light fixed on the main character in each scene, like when the sheriff was in the dock answering questions the spot light would shine on him this would add dramatic tension and show who is the main character in that scene. In the last scene when the man walked out I would use strobe lighting to give the effect the man was walking in slow motion this would have added a bit of class to the play.

There were five actors, the female actor played Scout, the daughter of the house and she played the judge and the girl who said she was raped. The black actor played Tom Robinson the man accused of rape. The older white actor played Aticus the lawyer. The larger actor played a child who dressed up as the sheriff and the drunken Mr Ewell and a younger actor played the prosecutor and Boo Radly. My opinion of the actors was that overall they were good except for some bad points. The good point of their acting was when Tom Robinson was in the dock and he said his left hand was hurt he never moved it and he didn't raise the tone of his voice when the prosecutor was interrogating him. The bad point about acting was when the actor playing Mr Ewell came out of role and said he didn't like his character I thought this was bad because it stopped the flow of the play and the actors playing their parts too.

Costumes were used to show the age of the characters and to match the time the play was set. They then used an item to depict a change in character. An example of a 1930's costume was dungarees and a cowboy hat. These were a 1930's style because this is when the cowboy period was at its height. When the female actor changed from being scout to the judge she took a black cap and hammer out of a box she was sitting on. I think that the only costume that made an impact on the play was when the female actor changed from Scout to the Judge and vice versa, I thought this made an impact because it was the only real change in costume that I saw during the whole scene. I would have had more costume changes to define the character changes, as it was a bit confusing trying to work out the storyline and work out the actors.

In the play they used live music. The live music was used to show the feeling and the atmosphere of the play and set. My opinion of the live music was that it was very dull and not very creative, they could have used better instruments instead of just the triangle, drums and accordion all of the time. I think western music for the part of the play would have been good.

My opinion of the play was overall it was good but it had a few bad points and a few good points if I had too see it again I wouldn't mind. The good points of the play were the some of the drama forms and some of the acting the bad points were the stage setting and everything else.