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The Diviners Play Analysis

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On Friday, November 11th, 2016, I saw the theater performance of Diviners at the Xavier University Theater. Diviners tells the story of Buddy Layman, a young boy from Zion, Indiana who experienced a drowning accident, which resulted in him losing his mother and his brain being damaged. Due to the drowning accident, Layman has a fear of water but also has a special gift of finding water. C.C Showers, a former preacher comes to Zion, Indiana looking for food and work and befriends buddy Layman acts as Buddy’s mentor and teacher and tries helping Buddy to overcome his fear of water. However, although his intentions are good, it results in Buddy Layman downing. The actors and theater technical crew took part in bringing the show to life and making …show more content…

The use of props brought the show to life as they were used in specific scenes, and this enabled the audience to better understand the story that was being told by the actors. In addition to props, the show incorporated the use of costume well. The Diviners was set in the early days of the depression the costumes worn by the characters depicted the era the play was set. The designs of the costumes also supported the context the concept of the play, in that, the preacher, C.C Showers, wore a full suit and tie, a different form of cloth than what the men Zion wore, and Buddy, wore an overall that appeared to be dirty, which depicted that he had not showered in a long time, due to his fear of water. Therefore, the costumes helped portray the actors well according to the character roles they played, which made their performances more …show more content…

In the beginning of the play when the story of Buddy Layman was being narrated, a spotlight was lit n the two actors who narrated the story. In addition to the spotlight, there was different day and night lighting that helped the audience know the time of day a specific scene was taking place. Also, lighting was used to depict different events that took place in the production such as the fishing scene, the bathing scene, the storm, the wind and thunder scene. Together with sound, lighting was used to creatively depict a river and the sound of the river when Buddy Layman was drowning, and C.C Showers was swimming, looking for Buddy. Sound was also used to depict the chirping sounds of birds. This aspect of incorporating sound and lighting made the show very powerful and beautiful to watch. It also made the production have a creative feel to it. The actors also interacted well with the audience by providing a powerful performance and by utilizing the proscenium stage well by using good blocking

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