Fires in the Mirror

After recently watching the play Fires in the Mirror at Ithaca College, I can say that I am very impressed with all aspects of the show that was put on. To prepare for this play, my seminar class had read it out loud first in order to get a sense of what was going to happen, the setting and so on. To be honest, the book bored me. I had no idea what was even going on and there were so many characters it was hard to keep up. It was written in a way that people were being interviewed and you read their responses, reactions and stories but not the questions they were being asked. So needless to say, this was not my favorite. Although, I am not here to criticize this written play, I am here to write about how it was performed and I will do just that.

To start off, I will touch base on the setting to give you a little visual context. The play took place in a black box theater so there was seating on all four sides of the room and the stage was viewed at every angle. I had never been in one of these before so I was awe struck by its design and wondered how they would use this to put on a production. Above us was a large steel block (it looked like the side of a bridge with triangles being made) that also had words cut out of it so that light shone through it and it appeared on the ground. A subway entrance was on one wall and a street sign was put up with a memorial in front of it. There was also a table with a chair and a mailbox tipped over and had graffiti. There was lighting in multiple different places but it always seemed to stay dim other than when shining on an actor. With this setting you knew you were in New York City. The props made for this did exactly what they were meant to do and took you to another place.

The actors were incredible. I have no talent whatsoever at acting and my eyes were stuck on them the whole time. Each and every one played their character so well and their accents were impeccable. These actors used the whole floor as their stage, walking around and talking to members of the audience and also going up in the stands and interacting as well. They used the floor in a great way and even when they were talking to the other side of the room you knew exactly what they were saying and followed them every step of the way. I remember one woman using props like a laundry basket and she was folding clothes and things and it was  interesting because it made her become more like a real person than an actor and got me into the play. The last thing that I have to say about the acting is that since each character was answering a question to an interview, they were talking to you as an audience member instead of interacting and building a story with each other which I thought was very different than anything I’ve ever seen before.

The end of the play where all of the characters came together and blew out a candle at the same time for the child who had died was the part that impacted me the most. Here you had all of these people of different races taking sides and blaming others for this child’s death and without even talking to one another during the whole play they come together. I thought it was an interesting spin on the written play. I do have to admit that even though I did enjoy the setting and character aspects of the play, I did not enjoy the actual play itself. Honestly after a while it lost my attention and I was itching to get out of there. To me it just felt like it was being dragged on and there wasn’t really a moral to the story or a point, it just felt like people talking at me.

I can honestly say I did not like this play but I did not hate it. It was just okay for me because of its dull storyline. But I won’t let that take away from the amazing actors and the setting. I was in awe from all of the work that was put into that play and I would gladly go and see another one in the black box theater again. It was definitely an experience. 

Preview for Fires in the Mirror: 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5IrEDXyKg8

 

The book and the black box theater before props