EngPlay has been a long standing tradition for the University of Waterloo Engineering Society. Almost every term, a theatrical production is put on by primarily engineering students. This term’s EngPlay had an impressive total of 27 people who were directly involved. This group comprised of 13 actors, 10 crew, and 4 directors. EngPlay has a history of having a very small cast and crew with few exceptions. This review is based on the Friday, July 15th showing of EngPlay.
The title of the play this term was Rhinoceros. This is a full length play set in the 1950s about a town where people start turning into rhinoceroses. The play was written with a very serious attitude about social movements and mob mentality prior to World War II. This selection of play is much more serious than what is normally done for EngPlay, so the directors chose to appropriately shorten monologues and provide actors with a large amount of freedom to add comedy. The result was a play that had enough of the original content to understand the theme of the originally written piece if attention was given, but also contained enough comedy and action to keep the less attentive audience members entertained.
At the time the doors opened, the cast and crew were well-organized for the EngPlay production. Pre-show music was playing and there was a dancing projection of a rhinoceros on the wall to keep the audience entertained.
With the introduction of the main character, Barenger, as he makes a fool of himself, the introduction of a logician, and one too many innuendos, the first scene was one of the funniest. However, the most confusing moment was also in this scene. At a point where two conversations were supposed to overlap, the actors had difficulty keeping in sync. Although this did result in a bit of confusion for the audience, it is an impressive theatrical stunt to attempt with the small amount of rehearsal time the actors got. The remainder of the play was quite seamless. The large stage crew resulted in very fast set changes. The actors appeared to be performing their roles more naturally after the first scene change, especially after intermission. This is possibly due to them becoming more and more comfortable on-stage.
The production was well done and stayed true to the expectations of an EngPlay production.
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