Waverly Drama Silently Succeeds With "Reeling"
Connor Strange
Co-Editor-in-Chief
The fall one-act kept the audience in hysterics last night with thirty minutes of nonstop slapstick. The silent play, “Reeling”, made up for in outrageous overacting and continuous jokes what it lacked in dialogue.
Curtains open to Little Man (Tucker Flodman) proposing to Beloved (Makayla Siefker) after an anxious morning. She hesitantly declines, saying she has to follow her dreams and become a star on the silver screen. However, “saying” may be the wrong phrase, as all the dialogue is mouthed or held up on monumental queue cards by junior Bailey Neben. Following Beloved’s departure for the movie business, Little Man finds himself caught up in the hustle-and-bustle of the studio and facing an endless list of improbable circumstances.
Little Man only wants to become reunited with his Beloved, but every cast member of the ongoing film production (and the director) seems to get in his way. Sophomore Tanner Lemrick rocks a goofy portrayal of Big Man, the film’s director who is constantly at odds with Little Man.
The silent play approach has its drawbacks, making it hard to understand a character’s motives or the meaning of a scene. However, the intentionally overacted roles and an archaic soundboard utilized by Foley Guy (Zach Tabor) make up for the vagueness. And, in a thirty minute comedy, an in-depth plot isn’t exactly the most important part; the jokes are what really matters, and they consistently land home.
There is no dialogue, but that might make an even harder mountain for the performers to climb in memorizing the play. The choreography of it all isn’t just pacing while talking or soliloquies from a standstill. The whole half hour is filled with trips, slips, fights and a million other slapstick moments all going on concurrently.
As always, Tucker Flodman kills his leading role in the production. However, one background role steals the show when it’s on stage; Star #3 (Noah Tierney) drunkenly stumbles around the set and follows his booze wherever it goes. Emma Scheel also shines (literally, due to wardrobe choice) as the Prima-Donna.
WHS students will always enjoy seeing their friends and peers on stage, but the play is funny enough for any audience member to have a good time.
The play shows today in Gretna at 5:30 for the annual EMC one-act competition, and on Dec. 6 at 2:00 for districts.
