The Justice

Act II takes place in London of 1979, although for the aforementioned characters only 25 years have passed. Victoria (Kraus), Clive's daughter (who was played by a dummy in Act I), confronts problems in her relationship with her boyfriend Martin (Rios) and has also taken up a lover named Lin (Lorand), who has a small child of her own, Cathy (Witte). Her brother Edward (Castellanos) also has problems with his lover Gerry (Brown). Betty, now a middle-aged woman, is played by Young. Act II serves as an interesting parallel to the society portrayed in Act I; here, the women have stronger voices, and some characters are openly gay. As a general rule, the acting was also stronger, as some of the characters seemed more comfortable in modern roles compared to historical ones. Instead of the farcical tone of the first act, this one concerned itself with exploring the emotional lives of its characters. The doubling of actors also served to bring up interesting connections in relationships between characters. It was generally well-done technique, and especially poignant in Betty's case; as the only adult character to remain in both acts, she is a complex figure whose evolution throughout the course of the play was satisfying to witness. Almost as a side note, I must mention that Cathy was generally a distraction in the second act, for although Witte embodied the character as much as he did in Act I, in this case the character was a four-year-old child prone to tantrums, and I would have enjoyed less realism and somewhat less yelling.

Overall, the actors were generally quite good at conveying the humor and pathos of the play. The technical crew made excellent use of the physical space in Schwartz Auditorium and transitioned between scenes well. Few plays manage to combine absurd comedy, cross-gender casting and shifting gender roles, colonial uprisings and modern sexual conundrums in such a coherent, intriguing manner. I would recommend this extremely funny, subversive production as an excellent use of several hours of your time.

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