This blog-post will offend several people. I must accept it and move on.
When I was young, I was the victim of bullying. Not once nor by one person, but throughout my younger years in several different cities and towns. I have witnessed bullying of and by others who were around me. Sometimes I acted, sometimes not. I tell you this so that you will understand where I come from. Knowing this may change how you perceive what I am saying.
That's the disclaimer. Now to the heart of the story.
A play in a nearby town was marred by threats of violence and bullying to the point where a child was excluded from the show.
Many bullied children end up in the arts. It is a refuge for many of the fringe: the different and the sensitive ones. Band kids become a gang looking out for each other. Journalism, Art, Choir, and Dance also join that list of protective gangs. Like them, theatre can be a refuge for the disenfranchised or picked-on youth. I was not physically weak, but I was smart and sensitive- a combination too tasty for the hyenas of public school to resist. So, although I played ball some and rode cross-country bicycle, I was bullied, and I also found my way to choir and band and theater.
Adults always had the same or similar response, "They're just playing." or "Don't be such a baby." or "He/she didn't mean anything by it." or "So and so would never do something like that. He's a good kid." or "That never happened." Denial was the word for the day. Deny it happened. Deny it was bad. Deny they meant to hurt. Deny you're worth defending. The Arts are supposed to be a refuge where the different can take those differences and soar.
But that's not always the case. Pettiness and jealousy, hierarchism and bullying will find their way into nearly any group. I have seen it myself. I have heard it done. As kids we are near powerless to do anything about it, no matter what anti-bullying programs aim to do. It is the adults who must step in and protect those who cannot protect themselves, and denial is never going to help. Turning a blind eye never stops it. Unfortunately, aggressive attacks also don't stop it. It takes time and patience and a firm hand to halt the practice even if only for a while.
That lands us back to the play in a respected theater in the next town over. I heard about the problems from four different sources. With such an emotional issue, even a trusted source by itself isn't enough. The play has an all boy cast. Notice not men...boys. They ranged in age from very young to college age. The director is himself of the same age as the older "boys". The show features a lot of violence and violent talk and attitudes. These pumped up feelings spilled over into the dressing rooms and beyond. Anti-gay taunting aimed at a child with gay parents. Threats of explosives and weapons. Actual weapons brought into that emotional mix. When a parent felt the threat was too much, she was dismissed with all the denials mentioned above. When she would not be dismissed, she was threatened with the police if she did not leave, and since she felt could not trust leaving her son there unatttended (unprotected), they left. She had pushed too hard.
According to those in charge, they had handled it. The "he is a good kid" "I know his parents" scenario. This parent, not knowing those people and knowing that not everyone had been interviewed about the incidents, did not trust that it was enough. The other person was offended by that and felt authority threatened. Escalation to the point that we now have adults bullying adults. The child suffered. The show suffered. Nobody wins.
That's the way it is with bullying: Nobody ever really wins. Not even the bully.
I was not there. I spoke to some of those involved and got conflicting stories in some areas and overlap in others. What I know is that reputations have been harmed, the theater is harmed, and people have been harmed. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can break my soul."
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Lord of the Flies...Tyler Civic Theatre
This review was delayed several days by no access to the blog during that time. I apologize for the delay to all involved in the show.
I did not like the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding when I read it in high school. I liked it only slightly less when I re-read it in college. Don't get me wrong, it is a well written book. The British public school boys stranded on an island becoming a less than subtle metaphor for what men become without the constraints of "society". It is a disturbing book without a happy or even satisfying ending. It is disturbing because it cuts to the bone.
The play, produced by Tyler Civic Theatre and directed by Justin Purser, maintains that uncomfortable atmosphere and tone. It is, of course, a condensed and edited version of the book for brevity, but it is not edited much for content. The violence, the savagery, the loss of humanity are all there. It is not a play for the young and immature. It is a play to stimulate conversation and introspection, not to entertain. The intensity of some of the actors and the haunting staging brought a raw edge to the play, even though it included several very young actors.
Mark Becker (Jack) was intense and convincing as the pathological leader of the savage boys. His dominant character sets the tone for those violent episodes. The one flaw in his performance is the sudden shift from stuffy would-be leader to tribal chief without the descent visible to the audience. That may have been due to script or director's choice. Malick Absy (Roger) submitted a rather understated performance though only those familiar with the book would know it. He started out the normal schoolboy and more gradually became the crazed enforcer. In the book, Roger is near psychotic when his suppressed rage is unleashed without the strictures of organized social order. Absy doesn't take it to that extreme. James Burns (Piggy) did a marvelous job portraying the voice of ignored reason. The point is quite obvious that reason and rules go out the window when there appear to be no consequences beyond the now, as these boys felt. I was a bit disappointed in the performance of Ryan Castner (Ralph). Castner portrayed Ralph as weak and ineffectual character. That is interpretation, however. What bothered me more was the "one note", far too level performance. There weren't enough levels to his work. Again that could be the actor or the director. Owen Harrison (Simon) gave an uneven performance as the innocent sacrificial lamb of the story. Simon represents innocence and the vulnerability of common sense to the story. At times he was good, then at times bland.
Among the other boys, most were adequate with few stand-outs. One that stood out in a negative way was a boy who's name I never got. They did not call him by name clearly in the play so I cannot connect it to the actor. (I did not see him afterwards in the meet and greet.) One of the older (at least larger) boys in the show, his acting was way way over the top. It wasn't convincing within the context and tone of this show. It rather distracted me whenever he began chewing the scenery. The "Litluns" were okay, though at time hard to hear. That I attribute mostly to age and experience.
The look of the production was quite good. A nicely designed and executed stage with a very effective use of lighting and sound were directly attributable to the director Justin Purser. They all worked together to create a mood of tense foreboding followed by stark danger. The costumes as time passed in the play could have been more ragged and dirty. They became "stage ragged" but not dirty...some still had creases from their newness. A problem I pointed out later was that the first row of seats stage right and especially left needed to be roped off. A young audience member was less than a foot from getting conked with a spear at one point. Hopefully that was corrected in later performances.
Overall a good production of a dark and violent play. I would not take anyone under the age of 10 at minimum to see the show unless you were prepared to start a conversation about what had just happened and why. It is harsh. It is brutal...just as the author intended.
I did not like the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding when I read it in high school. I liked it only slightly less when I re-read it in college. Don't get me wrong, it is a well written book. The British public school boys stranded on an island becoming a less than subtle metaphor for what men become without the constraints of "society". It is a disturbing book without a happy or even satisfying ending. It is disturbing because it cuts to the bone.
The play, produced by Tyler Civic Theatre and directed by Justin Purser, maintains that uncomfortable atmosphere and tone. It is, of course, a condensed and edited version of the book for brevity, but it is not edited much for content. The violence, the savagery, the loss of humanity are all there. It is not a play for the young and immature. It is a play to stimulate conversation and introspection, not to entertain. The intensity of some of the actors and the haunting staging brought a raw edge to the play, even though it included several very young actors.
Mark Becker (Jack) was intense and convincing as the pathological leader of the savage boys. His dominant character sets the tone for those violent episodes. The one flaw in his performance is the sudden shift from stuffy would-be leader to tribal chief without the descent visible to the audience. That may have been due to script or director's choice. Malick Absy (Roger) submitted a rather understated performance though only those familiar with the book would know it. He started out the normal schoolboy and more gradually became the crazed enforcer. In the book, Roger is near psychotic when his suppressed rage is unleashed without the strictures of organized social order. Absy doesn't take it to that extreme. James Burns (Piggy) did a marvelous job portraying the voice of ignored reason. The point is quite obvious that reason and rules go out the window when there appear to be no consequences beyond the now, as these boys felt. I was a bit disappointed in the performance of Ryan Castner (Ralph). Castner portrayed Ralph as weak and ineffectual character. That is interpretation, however. What bothered me more was the "one note", far too level performance. There weren't enough levels to his work. Again that could be the actor or the director. Owen Harrison (Simon) gave an uneven performance as the innocent sacrificial lamb of the story. Simon represents innocence and the vulnerability of common sense to the story. At times he was good, then at times bland.
Among the other boys, most were adequate with few stand-outs. One that stood out in a negative way was a boy who's name I never got. They did not call him by name clearly in the play so I cannot connect it to the actor. (I did not see him afterwards in the meet and greet.) One of the older (at least larger) boys in the show, his acting was way way over the top. It wasn't convincing within the context and tone of this show. It rather distracted me whenever he began chewing the scenery. The "Litluns" were okay, though at time hard to hear. That I attribute mostly to age and experience.
The look of the production was quite good. A nicely designed and executed stage with a very effective use of lighting and sound were directly attributable to the director Justin Purser. They all worked together to create a mood of tense foreboding followed by stark danger. The costumes as time passed in the play could have been more ragged and dirty. They became "stage ragged" but not dirty...some still had creases from their newness. A problem I pointed out later was that the first row of seats stage right and especially left needed to be roped off. A young audience member was less than a foot from getting conked with a spear at one point. Hopefully that was corrected in later performances.
Overall a good production of a dark and violent play. I would not take anyone under the age of 10 at minimum to see the show unless you were prepared to start a conversation about what had just happened and why. It is harsh. It is brutal...just as the author intended.
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