The Bones keep pleasing
Joel Pavelski
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Arts
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Throughout the play, the audience is challenged to interpret, make connections and embrace different theatrical customs.
Dreaming of the Bones is the love-child of months of hard work, brave creative choices, and many talented people. As the production drifts through its three equally heady portions, it shows.
The production is made of three shorter plays, all similar in style, but different in attitude.
The Shadowy Waters tells of a pirate captain who falls in love with a captured queen and leads her into the spirit world, following spirits of the dead who manifest themselves as birds. The tone of the play is hopeful, with love triumphant and faith revealed.
Night of Pity, the dreary apocalyptic tale that follows, examines the world's last day, when drinking won't intoxicate you and Death dances with you before leading you away.
The final play, Dreaming of the Bones, regales the audience with a tale of Irish nationalism, telling of a young Irish man who meets the ghosts of two traitors begging for forgiveness. The three plays fit well together, as they weave in and out of optimism, forgiveness, and destiny.
Technically, Dreaming of the Bones is an achievement for The Tower Players. The direction, by George Angell, is thorough and impressive.
The set design, by David Griffiths, points towards the overall direction of the play and stands out by itself, cleverly providing a well-conceived background for the plays.
The percussion score composed by Eric Jones, an element derived from ancient Japanese Noh theatre, will make your hair stand on end.
The acting, led by the predictably excellent Chris Stewart, makes the lofty material accessible and entertaining.
The dreams of these bones will enchant audiences long after they've left the theater.
Hillsdale College Collegian, 2007
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