Bushnell Review

It was my first time watching a one-man play, which impresses me by the actor's acting skills. After doing ta before head research about the plot, I thought Warriors Don't Cry would be a performance being played by more than one actor. Since I thought it would be more shocking to put more actors in when a larger event happens in the plot. For example, when Melba got circled and yelled at with bad words. It might create more feeling for the audience to see the scene. However, the show was not bad as I thought it would be as a one-woman play. I thought it would be boring watching one person's performance. Eventually, I was wrong and found it interesting. It is more focused on the person's inside feelings instead of the overall story. The audience will feel something different and view the story differently as if they were Melba. We could see more deeply into the struggles the character was facing during specific conflicts that happened. This performance is like listening to a storyteller telling her own experience but with physical movements instead of descriptions in words.

        I was also surprised because of how big the amount of work she must have done in order to achieve this performance. Memorizing double, even triple amount of lines a normal actor would have to memorize for one single show, since she is the one and only actor on stage carrying all the plots in her lines. Worries of the audience getting bored or zoning out, it is more important for her to make enough surprises and shock for the audience to keep their attention on her. Another impressing part was seeing how she changed her speaking voice and her action switches between different character. For example, when she was acting Melba's grandmother, she used a hoarse voice and arches her back to show the differences between Melba using a higher pitch of voice and jumping around energetically.