More Theater Monday - Witness

We were given complimentary tickets to Witness for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Witness

Where: www.zerogravity.art

Who: Teens and Up

This event ended on January 23, 2022

Witness was an online theatrical event focusing on immigration stories of Jewish people. However, there was so much more to the piece than that. In fact, there were many different parts that didn't even all seem to go together. It was all a bit chaotic and confusing.

The first part of the show was a recreation of a talent show that allegedly occurred on the St. Louis an actual ill-fated historic ship that was meant to carry Jewish emigres away from Nazi Germany. While the talent show itself was not that interesting. This section of the show was the most interesting as there was a lot of interactivity. You could get information about the characters in the show who were based on real people,  as well as information about the people playing these characters all of whom were actually immigrants themselves as well as information about related historical events. This section of the show was also the easiest to follow.

The second part of the show turned darker both metaphorically and literally. It took place in complete darkness and revolved around the ship beinging turned away from various ports and eventually being forced to return to Germany. The darkness coupled with the realistic sound effects in this section of the show really made you feel like you were there sharing the increasing desperation of the passengers on the ship,

The final section of the show switched back and forth between the voyage on the St. Louis and people on the voyage and a group of modern people discussing antisemitism. It was all very confusing. On the whole, the entire show was kind of confusing. Every time, it seemed to be one thing, it switched and became another. It was all very hard to follow.  It seemed like there were a lot of important things being said in this piece but it would have been easier to follow and gotten the point across better if they weren't so many changes around both in time and in the style of the piece.

Witness was presented by Arlekin Players. For more information about the show or about the Arlekin players in general visit www.zerogravity.art.

Tune in tomorrow for Tips for Tuesday.

All  production screenshots supplied by Arlekin Players