The Colby Echo

Issue date: 2/9/07 Section: News & Features

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy of Esther Boyd

Location is always important.

It does not matter if it is in regards to the audience, the play, or even the theatre itself-or, one must wonder, if there was intent-setting matters. Anyone who has attended a play can tell you this (Was the theatre large or small? Was the play set in Africa or Athens, Georgia?), but it is often overlooked that the location of one small item can have an impact.

Perhaps it is apples, lined up on a bureau.

Perhaps it is a cup on the head of a "foreigner."

"The Foreigner," full for its three nights, was set in Georgia, in what was called "the recent past". The premise was that a frightened man pretending to be a "foreigner" in an old fishing lodge unintentionally influenced the lives of those around him. It sounds strange and a bit implausible, but it went up with a bang-or rather, a thump on the head with a rubber mallet.

As it was put up in the Cellar Theater, the actors were forced to be in close proximity to the audience. Such a black-box theatre is normally used to teach actors how to act with an audience, whereas a traditional theatre, such as Strider, keeps the audience at a distance. Though the actors in this production did not keep their distance from the audience, some sort of personal acknowledgement to the audience-whether it is in an aside or simply a nod-would have been nice. Overall, the acting was fairly good, and the actors did seem to fit their roles, though Sean Senior's role as Owen Musser and Andy Bolduc's as Charlie Baker truly did shine through.

The selection of the Cellar Theater did allow for the audience to have a much more intimate experience with the action of the play. During one scene, when members of the Klu Klux Klan entered, the audience's reaction was much more emotive than if they had been in a larger theatre; only having about sixty people in the audience, however limiting, does have definite advantages.

I do wonder, though, about the selection of such a play. There is the obvious social commentary on what a "foreigner" is-is he truly just someone who speaks a differing language, even if it is just nonsense?-but there is also the implausibility of the whole scenario. For example, how do an old woman, a developmentally challenged young man, a young woman and a previously exceptionally shy man go head-to-head against an amassing of the KKK? Can a rubber mallet truly conquer all?

The personal growth shown by all characters does make us forgive the impossibilities, however great. We want to believe that the confused Ellard Simms just has not been given the right opportunities, or that the Rev. David Marshall Lee will either change or get what he deserves. These thoughts aren't unnatural-they are human. We, sitting in the dark among 59 of our peers, are too close to the action to back out, too easily involved in the story that is opening in front of us.

Although I am certain that Charlie would have much to say about the success of "The Foreigner" (though perhaps not as stirring as his tale of a "tractor"), it can all be boiled down to one word: location. If it had taken place in any other setting, it may have still been somewhat enjoyable, but certainly not nearly as much as it was to those who walked through the doors, into the hallway, and down the stairs into Tilghman County, Georgia.

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