Book Of Days

Director – Marissa Duricko

Playwright – Lanford Wilson

Director’s Synopsis of Piece:

Book of Days is set in a small town dominated by a cheese plant, fundamentalist church, and a community theatre. When the owner of the cheese plant dies mysteriously in a hunting accident, Ruth, his bookkeeper, suspects murder. Cast as Joan of Arc in a local production of George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan, Ruth takes on the attributes of her fictional character and launches into a one-woman campaign to see justice done.

My Interpretation of Book Of Days:

Book of Days begins as a naturalist piece of drama accounting the lives of different people living in a the fictional town of Dublin, Missouri. This piece of comic writing evolves in to a murder mystery causing the audience to question all the characters they are presented with and enforces the question of who to believe. The piece itself calls for a sizable cast of at least twelve and throughout the piece you are introduced to everything from  a cheese plant and a fundamentalist church to community theater in this fictitious society that Lanford Wilson creates. The plot centers around a tornado that marks the death of one of the characters and so begins the mystery as to whether it was a death caused by a natural act or a murder. What I found really interesting about this play is the use of time and how it is played with. In several instances throughout the drama time is re-winded or fast forwarded to different dates to show a progression in the plot or the re telling of an important element of the story. Through this all of the characters are given a thorough back story and the audience feels they have a better insight as to who the culprit could be having knowledge of events and characters prior to the central event. This troublesome aspect of the production was achieved flawlessly by the UCC Dramat production of Book of Days. The production ensured that each of the twelve cast members had multiple costume changes, even if only for the most minute scenes, enforcing the idea of the passing of time. Because each of the characters represent a different person in society their costuming is key to the development of the characters as each character adopts their own style. The costuming shone through as a very strong production element. As well as the costumes, the lighting and set worked intrinsically together reflecting a simple natural  setting  that supported the ‘believability’ of the piece. Very simple yet effective designs. All of the productions elements combining together was a foresight of the strong group work created by the cast. A very hard piece to create as the ensemble carries it as a group. All of the characters were given the attention and support needed so that the production presented a united force to the audience showcasing a lovely example of the marriage between production and performance.