Theatre AUM has brought the state of a typical American family to the stage. This play was both modern and brutally honest. The play, A Delicate Balance, cycled from November 11th until the 21st. A Delicate Balance was written by the one and only Edward Albee. Edward Albee is famous for his Pulitzer winning productions such as Seascape and Three Tall Women . He was a Western Union Messenger, but now he currently works at the University of Houston. A Delicate Balance pushed forward the idea of a perfect family is just what it is an idea. The fact that we aren’t living in an utopia, and that everyone have problems was the plot of the play. In this case, this family resolved their family issues by drinking. The bar was used as a source of peace. Claire was the family alcoholic, obviously, but the others drunk as much, if not more, than she. I applaud the Director: Sarah Worley, Set Designer: Jason Huffman, Men and Women Costume Designers: Maddie Bogacz and Sarah Fish, Lighting Designer: Mickey Lonsdale, and Sound Designer: Frank Thomas. Without the dedication and hard work of this phenomenal few this production would not of been what is was. There is a grand list of others that assisted in the production on the rear of the program that worked equally hard.
The scenery was extremely easy to relate to. It took place in Tobias and Agnes’ living room. This was indeed the best place for a story to unfold. When entering ones home the first place a visitor is invited is the living room. They sit and chat for periods of time in that very living room. Every visitor has their own occasion for visiting whether its mess or just to stop by, but a lot of conversations and secrets unfold in a living room. Agnes and Tobias had interesting conversations of their own in that very living room.
My top three characters from the play are definitely Claire, Agnes, and Julia. I could partially see myself in all three of these characters. I enjoyed Claire’s character, I am tremendously just as she. I played the clarinet in middle school. I walked around the house playing it multiple times just to annoy my siblings. I could relate to Agnes because she is trying to find herself. She is going through so much: her marriage is broken, her daughter can’t maintain a relationship, and her sister is unstable. I am going through my own personal crisis being in college now and finding out who my real friends are, trying to get an understanding out of life is very difficult. Julia is what I am when it comes to guys, but I’ve never been married let alone divorced. My difference is that I’m kind of picky. He doesn’t have to be perfect but his drive has to be alone that same path as mine as far as college and having real goals. Of the entire cast there was only one AUM student.
Claire was played by the only AUM student Ms. Laura Bramlette. She was freaking hilarious. She played this character very well. This character was all over the place, drinking excessively, and loud. Laura did well with delivering her lines. She hopped the tables and crawled the couch; she made a complete fool of herself in many scenes. Laura was the perfect person for this role. She utilized her skills with stretching and shrinking her voice in certain scenes. The funniest scene, in my opinion was her talking to Tobias and she states while she was in Alcoholic Anonymous she had a drink before she got to class and she said she felt herself getting up and she said she heard her little girl voice said the words “I am an alcoholic”. I couldn’t stop laughing. She was a wonderful character to watch and compare some of my family member to.
Agnes was played by Mrs. Katie Pearson. She was wonderful at being the chain of the family. She held everyone together even when she couldn’t take the attitudes anymore. She wanted her perfect family back at some points of the play. She learned to adapt and to just go with the flow. She was a great friend to Edna and Harry when they were scared silly by absolutely nothing. Katie was serious about finding a remedy to solve her various family problems. She did very fine, capturing the role and delivering her lines fluently. She really made this production spectacular.
Julia was played by Tina Reese. She played a wonderful lady that was divorced more than three times. She was very fluent and put a lot of emotion in to her character just as I would if I had some random ungrateful people staying in my room. She did a wonderful job.
In conclusion, A Delicate Balance was a phenomenal play. Edward Albee really did a wonderful job. I can really see this play winning a Pulitzer. I again applaud the cast and the production crew at Theatre AUM. Everyone should really watch this play bringing forth the ugly head of alcoholism. At the end of this play the character of horrible friends appeared. The audience, like I did would leave wondering would your friends do the same as Agnes and Tobias. I would ,but that just might be me.
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