Juliana Riverin
Staff Writer
Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” is definitely a play one should avoid, unless it is performed by Mira Costa students, that is.
Despite being severely hindered by an irritating script which utilized unimaginative characters to play out a predictable and tedious storyline, the Mira Costa Drama Department’s performance of Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” impressed overall, due to a talented cast and crew .
The play follows the hijinks of a group of acquaintances as they spend a day in New York trying to fulfill their various goals and desires, such as finding adventure or love. Rich Mr. Horace Vandergelder (Kavon Tiegs), his niece Ermengarde (Madeleine Huggins), his clerks Cornelius Hackl (Preston Doran) and Barnaby Tucker (Ryan Fiene), hat shop owner Mrs. Molloy (Hadley Thomas) and her helper Minnie (Molly Dvorkin) are all helped by social butterfly Mrs. Dolly Levi (Julia McDermott) who seeks to make everything work out, in order to alleviate her boredom.
One of the largest problems with “The Matchmaker” was the abrupt script. Dialogue moved from one topic to the next quickly, and with little transition, which proved disconcerting. This also gave the impression that nothing that was discussed was really important. Every topic was so quickly brought up, only for the characters to disappear or move on to another issue that it was hard to tell what mattered.
Additionally, “The Matchmaker” relied on absurdity that very rarely captivated or moved the plot forward. The store clerk Barnaby Tucker is a shining example of this. Although his goal throughout the play is to have an adventure, he spends most of the play stuck in ridiculous situations, such as hiding under the table his employer is sitting at. At one point characters resorted to physical violence to decide who would eat in a private dining room. This is a shining example of how the play dissolved into complete mayhem, which grew tiresome very quickly.
The characters themselves were another part of the problem. Although they each seemed completely fixated on their own individual goal or dilemma, such as Ermengarde’s inner struggle to get married or not, the characters were no more than a group of clichés. For instance Ermengarde, a love-struck girl debating wether or not to marry a poor painter she loves, or Mrs. Dolly Levi, a widow seeking to make her life interesting. However, these characters are not relatable at all, due both to their single mindedness and their lack of backstory. This gave little context and made the entire play seem rather pointless because, for much of the play, there was no concrete reason for why the characters were acting the way they were.
“The Matchmaker”‘s saving grace was the talent of the cast. The actors portrayed their characters with a sincerity and depth that such a poorly written play does not deserve. Mr. Vandergelder (Tiegs) and Mrs. Dolly Levi (McDermott) shined particularly, due to the actor’s magnetism and genuineness. Without the talented cast, “The Matchmaker” would have been a complete failure.
Despite “The Matchmaker”’s numerous flaws, the Mira Costa Drama Department managed to create an impressive show due to their superb acting.
“The Matchmaker” played in the Costa auditorium from November 7th to November 15th. Tickets were $12 for students and $15 for adults.
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