Despite the familiarity of its story, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is no less engrossing at the hands of University Theatre, which is staging the play through Sunday. That’s as much a testament to the acting prowess of OU’s drama students as it is the timelessness of the novel by Harper Lee, the racial themes of which don’t seem nearly as outdated as one might hope.
While the show is a rather large production, with more than 20 characters and several major set changes, its best moments come as the result of one or two actors stepping into the shoes of Lee’s memorable characters and hitting a dramatic home run.
In this form, “Mockingbird” becomes almost purely an actor’s production. Strip away the excellent and versatile scenic design by Andrew Brown and the solid costume design by Jennifer Cozens, and the show would be distilled down into something still very impressive — captivating because of its human element.
Leading the way is drama senior Paul Stuart as altruistic attorney Atticus Finch. With his third consecutive major role in a University Theatre drama, Stuart achieves his best performance yet, perfectly capturing the compassion and wisdom of a man surrounded by the exact opposite.
Not far behind is 13-year-old Alyssa Danley, who exudes confidence as the spunky and inquisitive Scout, Finch’s daughter who always finds herself in the middle of things. Along with drama freshman Stephen Ibach as her brother Jem, Danley almost single-handedly carries the play’s first act. Her consistency of characterization and her irrepressible poise when bantering with Stuart make for some of the best moments of the show.
The ideals of the first act — Finch explains to his children the need to be willing to step into another’s shoes and see his or her point of view — are borne out in the second act, when Finch heads into trial defending Tom Robinson (drama senior Jonathan Hooks in a supremely dignified and moving turn), a black man accused of raping white woman Mayella Ewell (drama senior Mary Black).
The courtroom scenes, with most of the dialogue taken directly from the novel, contain some of the finest writing of the 20th Century, and Hooks and Stuart both hold the audience captive with those eloquent words. As racist and lying Bob Ewell, drama sophomore Brandon Christopher Simmons does the same with his ugly ones.
The heartbreaking consequences of racial prejudice still pack an enormous punch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” University Theatre’s production owes a lot to the stellar novel, which stands up just fine on its own, but the top-notch acting across the board makes it a must-see piece of theater.
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
mustafa 2 years, 3 months ago
I don’t understand the Left's infatuation with this story.
In order to cover her shame, a woman falsely accuses a man of rape, (something the Left assures us is impossible). Atticus Finch responds by putting the rape victim on trial. Isn’t that a no-no?
Later Finch demonstrates the incorrect thinking on capital punishment by personifying the adage: Mad dogs need to be put to death, not rehabilitated.
Perhaps this story isn’t so “timeless” after all.