The day the waters came - Review
The day the waters came was a extremely moving play put on at the Sheffield crucible depicting the devastating consequences of the category 5 hurricane Katrina. The performance was written by Lisa Evans with the director as Natalie Wilson. The actors included in this production were as follows – David Bonnick JR, Sapphire Joy, Lynsey Murrell and Toyin Omari-Kinch.
The set used in `The day the waters came` , in my opinion, was the most effective aspect of the performance. The reason for this is that the set used was minimal and really didn't use much but was expertly used and there wasn't a scene throughout where the props weren't used at some point. The pieces of set used were the top of objects effectively creating the sense of the flood even unconsciously as well as the fact that there wasn't much set also edging at the fact that the people of the flood didn't have much when they were up on the roofs or in the help centre. The stage also wasn't that big, and again, I found the performers used the space effectively and thoroughly. The seats were positioned in a circular position around the stage, and positioning some of the audience above eye level also give the image that the audience are the people, sat at home, watching the event happening live on the TV or even as one of the fellow suffers of the flood making the play even more moving.
Secondly, I will hit upon the sound used in the performance. The actor's voices were loud and clear and the use of dialect came into the play perfectly. At many points during the play sound from speakers were used such as the use of hurricane sound effects and the clips of news readers at the beginning supported the performance brilliantly making the feel of being in the actual hurricane a lot more real.
On the third note, the lighting came into the performance quite a bit. It was effectively used as show at the beginning when the four actors we placed upon individual pieces of the set and the spotlight came upon them individually. The effect of the light during the hurricane was expertly achieved as the lights span and blacked out giving the effect of being in the hurricane more life.
To end this quite long analytic review, I would like to say how amazing the whole performance was and how professional the actors were give the low budget and small space. It was a great play and I highly recommend it to any drama enthusiast who just loves a brilliant, moving performance.
Natasha Martin 10D