On Wednesday, our class had the chance to see My Master Builder at the Wyndham Theater. I have quite a few critics of the show, so I think I’ll start with what I loved the most, which was the costume design. Obviously, when we see theater at this level, every choice is going to be intentional, it’s just about how much we resonate with the intentionality, and I found that the costumes in this show spoke volumes about the characters in a way the script, unfortunately, didn’t do (though I will get to that later). I would say it was unanimously agreed that Elena’s green dress in Act II was the absolute show stopper of all show stoppers and the moment that really stood out in terms of technical elements. As well as the costumes, the set was beautifully done. I wasn’t completely sold on the glass church element, but I think that is mostly because of how it was used by the actors/director, rather than the actual design of it, which was beautiful.
On that note, there were a few things that were for me, one of them being the direction. Mostly it was totally fine, but Henry’s moments of vertigo, the blocking on the stairs, and then his death, all of which were then complied at the end, didn’t work at all for me. I totally understood what they wanted, and really I think it’s a script issue because I wasn’t roped in enough for his death to be as impactful as it should’ve been, but it was a little bumpy there. Similarly, I didn’t love Ewan, and Elizabeth’s acting was rough and felt like it lacked any clear motivation. I would go so far as to say at times Ewan was bad, which really hurts my heart to say. Though again, I think it all comes back to having a bad script.
Did I mention the script was bad? I understand what the playwright was trying to go for, but it didn’t work at all. The complete alteration of Kaia and Ragnar’s plot lines and their relationship with Henry meant that we didn’t get to see persistent manipulation, and Henry just came off as this guy who was just there and kind of an idiot. He lacked the ego and intentionality that was necessary for us to care about him and see him as any more than a slimy annoyance. Kaia and Ragnar felt unnecessary in this version of the play because their entire reason for being there and being important to the movement of the show was removed. Sure, the moment that Elena found out about them impacted her, but I would’ve believed her story without that in it. (Sidenote, Kate Fleetwood was the best thing about that show, and the only actor that created any sort of depth and believability to their character. So good.)
I think what also made this show particularly difficult was the fact that the night before we had seen such the perfect show ever with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was an absolute feat in every sense of the word. Every element was in perfect harmony and mind-blowing perfect. And to go from that to something that felt so disjointed and messy was sad. I know that these are two completely different plays, so the comparison may not be 100 percent fair as they have no common themes or styles, but just in the general sense, one was perfect and one was… not. That aside, I love to get to see any theater, even theater that isn’t for me, so I am grateful for the opportunity to see this show!
Theatre in London U of A 