SophShow's transition to the Rude Mechanicals takes yet another step forward tonight with its production of Aaron Sorkin's "A Few Good Men."
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A Few Good Men $6 at Michigan Union Ticket Office U-Club in the Union Friday-Sunday at 8 p.m. |
The play was turned into a highly acclaimed movie in 1991 after gaining favorable reviews. Sorkin wrote the screenplay for the movie version, as well as for "The American President."
So why not just rent the movie? For starters, the play is somewhat different than the film.
The Rude Mechanicals can't promise Tom Cruise, but they do boast a talented cast of 20 performers. In addition, the play will be presented in the round, with the audience surrounding the performers.
"We've been worried that people will think we're just showing the movie. Doing the show in the round lets you play with all sorts of different angles you can't do with the screen. It's more natural, more like you're watching real people," said Engineering sophomore Mike Newberry.
"We tried specifically not to be stereotypical. We don't want to do the movie for people," Leslie Soranno, the show's producer said.
"But the language is very much the same and the dynamic between humor and drama hasn't changed. They're doing it the way we as a whole see it should be done," she added.
The intimate setting of the U-Club provides a unique experience for this highly charged play.
"Take for instance the courtroom scene," Newberry noted. "You're right there with Colonel Jessup within arm's reach. You really feel the presence. It makes it a lot more fun when you have that human element rather than just watching actors on a screen."
In a traditional theater set-up, the actors rarely have their backs to the audience. But the upstaging in this production works more as an asset than a problem.
"We've adapted to the technique pretty well," Newberry said.
"It doesn't work unless the setting is intimate, and in the U-Club, it works well. It really brings the play out from being a flat work. There are times when you'll be looking at someone's back, but it's an okay sacrifice because you're getting the reaction," he continued.
The set for the production is simple, limited to tables and chairs.
"This play is not about a fancy set, music or costumes; it's not a spectacle. It's the words, emotions, people and relationships that are important," Soranno said.
Although the play was written in 1986, the scandals it addresses are still concerns of today.
"After we started doing this, the same issues started to come out in the media. Many of the scandals in the news are addressed in this show. We'd like to provoke the thought that public servants in general are people whose jobs just aren't respected enough," Newberry said.
This production begins a Rude Mechanicals tradition - presentation of a major Shakespearean work in the fall and a modern piece in the spring.
"SophShow was dying until last year. We want to build up a legacy as the Rude Mechanicals. We just don't want it to die again."
The Rude Mechanicals is a student-run organization that gives students on campus a forum for the spoken word.
"What's important is the process, not the product. We're learning as we go and it gives us a chance to have fun," Newberrry said.
"We've come up with a very nice solution to working in the U-Club and working in the round. We're not theater majors and we don't necessarily know what we're doing, but we won't be limited by that," he added.
"We do offer something different," Soranno agreed. "No other group is willing to take these kinds of risks. If you want to grow artistically, you've got to take these risks."
The Rude Mechanicals will present Aaron Sorkin's "A Few Good Men." The play inspired the successful 1991 film.