Ensemble Theatre Reviews

Ensemble Theatre NEXT OPENING NOVEMBER 8TH

The Ensemble Theater Can Fly
October 3, 2014– It was like seeing an old friend to see the set flying up to change scenery. I take it insurance costs and other considerations keep many of Houston’s Theaters from having and using fly space, so it was good to see that The Ensemble has rigging. It was also like seeing an old friend when Wayne Dehart came on stage for tonight’s Women in the Pit. He was a great actor when he auditioned for us in 1982 or 83 and, as far as I can tell he’s just gotten better since then. He did slur his words a bit on a couple of lines. That may be the worst thing I can say about tonight’s presentation. It’s 2014 and these guys were able to pull off what, to me, seemed to be a coherent argument for the value of churchiness, forgiveness, tolerance, open-mindedness, charity, hope, peace, the wisdom of age, progress, change to better and against racism, genderism, dogma, dirty secrets, hypocrisy, self-righteousness. The daughter touched my heart with her big speech.

The script was a well-made, well written well of wisdom that justified its didacticism – I really think it did. The actors and director found a fine line that allowed the play to unfold, undisguised argument that it may have been, in an interesting and watchable drama. I understand the run is going to be extended a bit. Maybe you can still get tickets. I may not have put accents or stresses on words the way these actors chose to, but they were consistent and mostly believable. They lived there. The tiny bit of disbelief they achieved for me that I feel worth mentioning was at the very end of the play when the mother nodded her head, signaling rather than making me believe that she was believing that everything was going to be better.