June 13th, 2022
For my fringe theatre experience, I -along with the rest of the group- watched Lift. Besides the plot of the musical, I was surprised by the environment, and how I interacted with the production itself. While I did not care for the plot much, I did appreciate the intimacy of the room, as it was black box production with not too many seats. With the seating in a U shape, I often found myself looking around to the audience on the sides to see their reactions to the musical. While I found it amusing at the moment, looking back, I would have appreciated being more locked into the production which might have worked better with different seating arrangements.
For the plot itself, I stayed pretty confused throughout the entire production, as I questioned whether or not the narrator was real or imaginary. I also questioned if each of the characters knew one another, as each of them described people whose names were Sarah, Kate, and Gabriel. It became even more confusing when each of the personal stories included the same names, which left me questioning if they were the same hypothetical people or if they were different individuals who just so happened to have the same names. Even now, I genuinely have zero clues as to what the answer to that is.
I also felt like a prude watching the musical. I was genuinely horrified at some of the scenes that were acted out in the production. I will not go into detail, as I still see myself as a prude, but I am pretty certain that my jaw hit the floor a time or two.
While the storyline confused me, I did appreciate the soundtrack. It honestly has stuck with me since I have watched Lift. Now, each time I enter an elevator in the underground I think “wow what if we all just broke out in song and dance right now.”
-Maggie Martin
Theatre in London U of A 