I had a chance to see The Diviners last night for their open dress rehearsal. Cast and crew did a great job. The play is well staged and well acted. Great story as well. Excellent theater.
The Diviners has 11 actors and a complicated story line. Think “The Rainmaker” (Burt Lancaster’s movie from the ’50), “Elmer Gantry”, and “Inherit the Wind”. Staging, acting and story came together really well. All the acting was really good, some of it was outstanding. Everybody was marvelously in character. Joseph Boyette plays what might be the most unique character I’ve seen in a long time. He nailed it!
The best analogy that I can come up is to compare the play to a great bottle of Chardonnay from a great house. There are many, many great Chardonnay’s in California, but for the sake of argument, let’s say Ferrari Carrano, 2002. In other words a great wine at it’s peak. What you get there is a huge flavor profile. Typically these kinds of wine will exhibit a wide range of flavors — apples, pears, hints of tropical fruit, maybe pineapple. The next level you’ll get to is herbs, combined with vanilla or licorice. Finally there might be a mineral quality, or even a slight metallic taste. So you’ll get at least 3 levels of flavor to discern. In two words: intensity and complexity. And all these flavors will be well coordinated. And that coordination is the key; all those different elements have to work together. And they did.
Now I will say I’m not certain I understood exactly what the author was getting at — in other words the story profile is complex enough that I have to think about it for a while. But I suppose that’s what good theater is all about.
Well that’s it for now. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
