Theatre--Review

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird presents a host of challenges to any theater company willing to take it on. The script calls for at least twenty characters and more, if the courtroom and other scenes are fleshed out with spectators; crucial roles must be handled by children actors, and the play is rife with the difficult subject matters of Jim Crow racism, and sexual content and multiple tableaus of a whole community, with scene shifts to a courtroom interior, a jailhouse exterior, woodlands on a stormy night and more, must somehow be conveyed to support the dramatic action.

The Evangeline Players, under the direction of Mac Stearns and his assistant Steven “Smitty” Smith, Jr. took on all of these challenges and won, presenting a compelling and entertaining show at the DuChamp Opera House in St. Martinville.

Fine acting was evident from the get-go: Katherine Caffery’s narration as the reminiscing adult Jean Louise Finch was spot on; Carmen Nicholson’s rip-roaring take on the eccentric Mrs. Henry Lafayette DuBose was an absolute delight to watch, Vincent Barras’ composed and controlled Atticus Finch, especially in the monumental summation to the jury, was powerful without being showy. Most of all, and most startling because of her young age, the absolutely amazing performance by Anne Caffery as the young “Scout” was a tour-de-force. Her control, her sense of the character, her range, her in-the-moment realness throughout was stunning. The play more or less rests on the young shoulders of any actress cast in that role, and Anne Caffery shouldered that load with the aplomb and finesse of someone way past her years. Bravo!

The set was efficient and the limited space of the DuChamp stage was well used. The audience got the sense of the Finch neighborhood and the town as the action moved from location to location. Particularly impressive was the efficient shift to the courtroom scene and back, with the many actors moving in precise choreography, taking set pieces on and off with the smoothness of a well-rehearsed dance. Well done!

The Evangeline Players have once again given local theater fans a compelling reason to make the drive down to St. Martinville’s DuChamp Opera house for a fine evening of entertainment. Mark your calendars for the upcoming The Odd Couple, which opens in August there. If To Kill A Mockingbird is any guide, it will be a “not-to-be-missed” offering.
--Duncan Thistlethwaite