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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