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Last week, King's College Theater put on four consecutive, nightly shows of Dead Man Walking . The script for the play was the same script used in the movie by Tim Robbins. It is also a true story based on the book of the same name, written by Sister Helen Prejean.
The script of the play was very well-written. It went into great detail about the death penalty laws at the time and still had an excellent story about the relationship between a man on death row and his spiritual advisor.
It told the story of Matthew Poncelot, a death row inmate that was found guilty of rape and the murder of two teenagers in 1980s Louisiana. In the short amount of time he had left, he connected with Sister Helen Prejean, whom he chose as his spiritual advisor. It became her duty to make sure he got in touch with God and was remorseful for his actions so he could die in good favor with God.
All of the performers in Dead Man Walking did an excellent job with their roles. They had very few problems with their lines and did so with flawless southern accents. They also performed well considering the subject matter. They remained serious and intense when most people would be too embarrassed to even be onstage.
The most impressive part of the acting came in the second act, on opening night. During the intermission, Brother James Miller came onstage to address the audience. He explained that one of the actors could not perform in the second act and that another of the performers would be taking over his part. Unfortunately, he would have to read from a script. However, instead of coming onstage and clearly reading from a script, the performer set it down on a desk and made it look as if he was using a prop. It was very impressive to see that the actors were so comfortable with each other and the performance that they were able to handle the situation so smoothly.
The acting was not the only remarkable part of the play, however. The set design was also outstanding. The set was designed so every scene can take place with very little change to the rest of the set.
The lighting may have been the most impressive part of the performance. The lights were very important to the mood of the play. The lights kept the mood somber, but lit up the stage well enough that none of the performers were ever in the dark.
The play was excellent. The many hours of work, which often kept performers and crew at the theater until the early hours of the morning, were definitely appreciated by the audience. It was clear to see how much effort was put into memorizing lines, performing, building sets, controlling lights and all of the other work that was put into it.
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