I really enjoy reading plays. I think they are such an interesting medium because a lot of the time you know exactly what the character is supposed to do through the stage directions, but the way the words are said is ofter up to the interpretation of the actor. As someone who has taken acting classes before, interpreting a script is a fun activity that I don't get to do very often. It also quite difficult because you have to figure out where the director's authority begins and your's ends.
I am quite liking this script. I think the staging is very interesting; I am definitely a fan of the split stage. I also liked the characterization of The-Mouth-That-Eats-Salt-and-Pepper and how they are bound by certain character consistencies like the side they must always enter from and how they can only enter on the lower stage and not the upper one.
Reading it aloud in class is also quite fun. The only plays I have read aloud in class are Shakespeare where the language can easily leave you behind if you are not paying attention. I think that this play has elements of that in it; some of the phrasing seems slightly awkward when reading in the cursory fashion one uses when reading aloud. These characters were meant to be portrayed. Having been sick for the first two times we read the book, I was reading it by myself. The full effect was lost on me. The characters really come alive when they are read by other people. Having multiple voices really helps show the differences in each of the couples.
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