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by John Sleek
Guest Writer
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It’s late at night and I am crammed in a seat to see a show called "Mnemonic." I am a student of the Interim trip to London and British Isles Theatre trip. I had already seen shows as "Anything Goes" and "The Lying Kind." Future shows I would see would be "Duchess of Malfi," "Macbeth" and "Stones in his Pockets." But although all these show were great and will be forever remembered by me, "Mnemonic" was a category all in its own.
When I first entered the theater, I never expected that this show would have such an effect. This show changed my perspective on the power and the ability of theatre. I was in the back of the theatre when the show started. It did not start out with bright lights or a big explosion meant to scare us all. It was simple: a man came out to talk. We all thought this was improvised but later learned it was written in the script. After a while, the lecture went straight into the play and then the wonder was to occur as I saw lights become something more then technical. I saw sound transform into a character itself,.I saw timing so perfect. I saw one actor transform a regular man into an iceman frozen and dead. This is what amazed me that for not one second did I doubt him or question his existence.
What was another great factor of this piece of theatre was the physical dance aspect. Now I would like to confess that I am not a big fan when it comes to dance in theatre. But for this production, dance pieces brought forth profound messages that I did not expect. The dance mixed with sound and lighting made not only the point of the dance made clear but also made it pleasing to the eyes and ears.
But what amazed me most was that after all the spectacle and performances, the play stayed in my head. Even though my brain was mush I could not stop thinking about this play. After our group left the theatre, something would happen that would not happen ever again, and that was silence. Now I can not speak for the rest but maybe we were thinking of the greatness we saw. To describe how I felt it is like when you see the beauty in nature and you just want to capture and keep it. That was what all of us did on the Tube as we headed back to the hotel, as again it was silent. One thought was on my mind and this was the play as the life of the tube fell into the background. There are moments that define us and who we are, and I am proud to say that this play and all that came with it will be one of those moments.
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