Analyzation of ARITS
FYS-the Family Drama
Evan Mowry

ARITS is not unique but special among plays in that it requires, as in the scene we watched, a certain over-the-top-ness in the acting of it, while retaining the willing suspension of disbelief that is critical to the performance of drama. Because the scenes we viewed dealt very little with the ordinary feelings of the characters, and more the extraordinary heights and depths of them, the cast had to be crazy-sad, crazy-happy, crazy-angry, and all the in-betweens without appearing crazy-crazy.
Beneathe was not acted overly well, but she was not acted poorly, either. She is not the integral character in the scene, and doesn't need to be perfect for it to flow well, but I thought that some of her actions had more to do with stage direction than the character. When Walter lay sobbing on the ground and his mother was interrogating him, Beneathe hung back with Ruth; not clutching her or hiding behind her or anything, just sort of standing in line with her. Given her outburst when Walter had confirmed the loss of her tuition money, I would have figured either a more "cracking" stoic persona would have fit her better, or at least hysteria. She seemed undevoted in her emotional direction, and that doesn't jibe well with previous indicators of her character.
The cameras were not centered on Ruth (or any other character, a feature I found particularly annoying) at any critical juncture in the play. While I think she acted her part well, I can't really determine if she did what I would think Ruth would do at any given time. She was, it seemed, too outwardly happy at the beginning of the scene; when she was talking with Beneathe I expected more of a glow from her.
Walther was the center of attention whenever he was in the room, which I found interesting. Even when Mama came home Beneathe and Ruth took their cues from Walther; they kept looking at him for confirmation of whether something was funny, whereas he hardly looked at them at all. I thought Danny Glover acted him really well, though. For some reason, much of the emotion in this performance seemed a little flat, and I only noticed it when Walther was gibbering on the floor, but now I'm thinking that it might be a personal reaction on my part to kind of cushion the let-down (because I know it's coming). As an audience member, I can predict (or know, in this case) what's going to happen next, and prepare myself for it.
Mama, I thought, was the best actor of them all. She was a very reserved, playful, vengeful woman, and I thought her body movements and facial expressions; even her voice, expressed the character wonderfully. I always imagined Mama as a large, buxom black woman, and the contrast between what I expected and what was delivered gave her that much more import.
Lindner, also, did a wonderful job acting his character. He was constantly confused when they kept interrupting him with snide questions once they had figured out what he had come for, but he picked right back up where he left off really well. He started to get a little defensive and outspoken right when I expected him to, but always stayed pleading without being whiny. I like that character a lot, now that I've seen him acted out, whereas when I had just read his lines I really disliked him; he seemed skinny and be-spectacled and generally a rat, before.
All in all, I thought the scene was powerful but not subtle. It did not make me feel what the characters were feeling, it made me want to get away from them. That seems a poor note to leave on in an analyzation, but it adequately states my feelings about the play; it had intensity, but it cracked my shield of willing disbelief in enough parts to ruin it for me.