PCC INSCAPE MAGAZINE
  • Online Issue No. 10
  • About
    • PCC Inscape Instagram
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • ISSUE ARCHIVE
    • Online Issue No.9
    • 2016 Fall Online
    • 2016 Sppring Online
    • 2017 Fall Online
    • 2017 Print Issue - Manifesto TOC
    • 2018 Fall Print Issue - Frankenstein TOC
    • 2018 FA Frankenstein Companion
    • 2018 Summer Online
    • 2018 Fall Folio - VOTE
    • 2018 Fall Spirituality
    • 2019 Celebrating Dia De Los Muertos
    • 2019 SPR Mental Health Companion >
      • Issue Intro
    • 2019 Fall Folio -- Moon Moon
    • 2019 Fall Folio
    • 2020 Summer Folio
    • 2020 Feb Folio
    • 2021 Feb Folio
  • Feral Parrot : The Blog
  • 2022 Handley Awards
  • INTERVIEWS
  • Inscape Alumni Board
Picture

Theater Experience at the Boston Court: "Everything That Never Happened"

5/16/2019

0 Comments

 

Written by Karen Herrera


Picture
A photo by Karen Herrera


​On November 1st, I went to the Boston Court Theater to see Everything That Never Happened, by Sarah B. Mantell. The play was a comedy based on Shakespeare’s,  The Merchant of Venice. Although I had no prior knowledge about the play, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and thought director Jessica Kubzansky did an excellent job adapting it.

The play revolves around two Venice side characters, father and daughter Shylock and Jessica, who are Jewish and portrayed as villains by Shakespeare. The anti-semitic tones of the original play were swapped out with the perspective of those violated and discriminated against, and even without the current social climate, it was incredibly emotional and thought provoking. I cried twice. The play took place in 1611 - this was repeated many, many times in irony. However, Jessica continually referenced other historical times when her religion was discriminated against: sometimes in the past, sometimes in the future. This didn’t take away from the immersion of the world though, but rather added to the comedy and heavy weight of the play.

I definitely think the set and the way the cast interacted with it played a huge part in evoking emotions in the audience. The actual structure of the set was very minimalist and versatile: the posts served as the waterside location Jessica met up with her lover Lorenzo, as well as the home she shared with her father and their servant Gobbo. The lighting and actors' movements showed the shift between two settings in a natural and believable way that worked with the rhetoric and was never choppy. All of the props fit the set in a non-distracting way, like the dinner table and meals Jessica and Shylock made, or the boat Lorenzo came to take away Jessica with. When Gobbo revealed himself on the boat and Lorenzo fell overboard, he flailed about despite no actual water was present, this definitely added to the comedic effect. And of course, Shylock’s violent baptism in the final scene, where the water poured out from the ceiling left the audience silenced and able to experience even more how horrifically these characters and their real life counterparts were treated.
​
This play got a heavy emotional response out of me and I think that that is ultimately the most important aspect in theater. Even though there were small things wrong with the production, my reaction of the play was not negatively affected, as much as it gave me a good experience.


Karen is a PCC student majoring in English, hoping to transfer to a 4 year university to get her teaching credential. Karen says, "I love plays, science fiction, and anything that combines the two."
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    IMPORTANT NOTE:
    PCC Inscape Magazine, housed at Pasadena City College, is following Coronavirus protocols. At this time our staff continues to read submissions and publish web content. 
     

    Note:

    Blog Posts reflect the opinions of the writer and not the opinions of Pasadena City College or Inscape Magazine Editorial Staff Members.
    Guest Bloggers are invited to submit blog posts of up to 1000 words or pitch a blog series to pccinscape@gmail.com

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All
    Guest Blogger
    Inscape
    Interview
    Review
    Series
    Short Story

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photo used under Creative Commons from CircaSassy
  • Online Issue No. 10
  • About
    • PCC Inscape Instagram
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • ISSUE ARCHIVE
    • Online Issue No.9
    • 2016 Fall Online
    • 2016 Sppring Online
    • 2017 Fall Online
    • 2017 Print Issue - Manifesto TOC
    • 2018 Fall Print Issue - Frankenstein TOC
    • 2018 FA Frankenstein Companion
    • 2018 Summer Online
    • 2018 Fall Folio - VOTE
    • 2018 Fall Spirituality
    • 2019 Celebrating Dia De Los Muertos
    • 2019 SPR Mental Health Companion >
      • Issue Intro
    • 2019 Fall Folio -- Moon Moon
    • 2019 Fall Folio
    • 2020 Summer Folio
    • 2020 Feb Folio
    • 2021 Feb Folio
  • Feral Parrot : The Blog
  • 2022 Handley Awards
  • INTERVIEWS
  • Inscape Alumni Board