Sunday was a very interesting day, getting soaked from the rain but with optimism I realize that I was able to enjoy the great performance of Little Foxes.
I wondered what element first stood out at me the most and struck me the moment I left the stage. As I sat and viewed the performance, my mind kept going over how much the story reflected certain aspects of society today. Overall, the story Lillian Hellman conveyed in Little Foxes struck me because of how realistic the story was in using the derogatory term for Africans in the play. As I viewed the performance I was shocked when the word was first thrown out by the actors. My heart jumped and at first I was in doubt that it was said, but I realized that in a way the word was critical to the realism of the play. Indeed it is a degrading term but I believe it was critical so that the audience would grasp that Southern view of Africans did not change because they were free. Racism remained and I truly related to that concept because even in a millennium age, I feel and hear racism and realize that it has not left. Thus the racism in the story was critical making it original and appropriate to the time period.
As the story was established in my mind, I began to notice the director’s interpretation of a play centered around the 1907 South. What I enjoyed was how the director interpreted the play overall. He did not use corsets for females but in fact modern clothes for the Southern aristocracy. As I saw the modern clothes, I was surprised to hear that the play was centered in 1907. This made me wonder if Lillian Hellman had two criticisms she wanted to convey to her readers. Indeed, she was criticizing the society of the South, how they exploit the blacks and the poor because they are of lower status and how they easily throw out derogatory language to the blacks. The modern clothes made me think about whether Lillian Hellman was also socially criticizing the current society that she lived in. How many times is racism seen in history or even to this day? How many times in history have people less fortunate than others been exploited to satisfy the gain of the richer? The director allowing a modern twist to the play for me enhanced the clarity of the performance and the overall story that Hellman possibly wanted to convey as a social critic.
The director’s interpretation is coupled with how he staged the play. Personally, I was happy that the stage was not made to be elaborate because that distracts me from the message and deliverance of the actors. Having only a purple room throughout the entire set allowed me to engage in what the actors were saying. Purple indicating riches and royalty was a perfect color for the entire set showing what was the motive of several of these characters, wealth and greed. The darker purple in my opinion reflected tension throughout the play because as I looked around the room combined with the chandeliers made me feel a mood of tension and suspense. There were two other features that I found interesting which were the screen and the placement of the staircase. I found the screen distracting at times but I felt that it gave me an all knowing perspective, I knew what happened at all times between the characters. However, I mainly wondered why the staircase was placed specifically in the middle of the stage as it hindered the audience from seeing the whole stage. It left the room divided and the actors mainly stood either on one side or the other. Literally by the staircase the household was divided just as it was for the characters. Each character was divided because of different opinions, whether it was Regina’s desire to break free or Birdie to return to her former plantation it led to arguing and division as shown by the staircase.
Lastly, the final element that manipulated all aspects of the stage costumes, and the director’s purpose were the actors. The actors stood out to me the entire play as they were so attached to their character allowing the character who they were portraying to take over. For instance, the actor playing Regina, although I may despise the character herself was portrayed so well, from her frustration of not being able to break free to Chicago to the sadness and fear of being alone in her encounter with Alexandra. In the same way I enjoyed the actress’ portrayal of Birdie and how she was frustrated in not being able to achieve her personal dreams. The way these actors performed made me not want to leave my seat because I did feel that I was in the midst of these characters by their acting. Through the screaming and changing of vocals I felt at times as if I was the only one in the theater because I was so absorbed by the play. Even when they finished their performance, their was still tension on their faces and that made me realize how much they were in touch with their characters. Combined with the other elements and the manipulation of the scenery as the actors were beating the stage made the actors appear to be one with the stage and all elements of the play. For me all these aspects and elements certainly did not make Little Foxes any deadly theater.
