Last Tuesday, I made my way to one of my favorite areas in Brooklyn, Dumbo, to see the play Henry Iv at the St. Ann’s Warehouse with my class. This version of the renown play had all all-female cast and I was interested in how that aspect of the play would turn out. I actually really liked the all female cast. I thought the actors were entertaining and believable. Not once did I think that the role would be better played if it were a male because the acting was strong. My favorite actress was the one that played Hotspur. She had high energy and her performance was captivating throughout the night. The boxing scenes with her were also some of my favorite scenes in the play. The plot of the story was interesting and reading the summary definitely helped, but I wish I had read the play before hand in order to understand the meaning of the dialogue better. There were scenes where I was completely lost in the dialogue, but the acting still kept me engaged. I didn’t mind some of the props such as the kids chairs, but I did think the dog and baby were a little silly. Besides that, I wasn’t bothered by the untraditional props because they were intentional in order to show a different interpretation of this play. I really enjoyed how the audience was almost a part of the play at some points. In the beginning, the gates were closed and we weren’t allowed to use the restroom which made me feel like I was locked up as well. The stage was also the room itself and the audience surrounded the room, which also added to that feeling. There were also a few scenes where the audience was directly involved such as the scene where the woman from the audience came on stage. Another thing I enjoyed was the DJ booth. I thought it was clever to use that during the times where the actors would change the stage because the music diverted the audience’s attention. Overall, I really enjoyed this play. I was expecting to see a more traditional version of a Shakespearean play, but it was refreshing to see a modern take on it.
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