Of Mice And Men
Performances
January 16-18 & 22-25, 2015
Venue
Community Players Theatre
Synopsis
Two drifters, George and his friend Lennie, with delusions of living off the “fat of the land,” have just arrived at a ranch to work for enough money to buy their own place. Lennie is a man-child, a little boy in the body of a dangerously powerful man. It’s Lennie’s obsessions with things soft and cuddly that have made George cautious about with whom the gentle giant, with his brute strength, associates. His promise to allow Lennie to “tend to the rabbits” on their future land keeps Lennie calm, amidst distractions, as the overgrown child needs constant reassurance. But when a ranch boss’ promiscuous wife is found dead in the barn with a broken neck, it’s obvious that Lennie, albeit accidentally, killed her. George, now worried about his own safety, knows exactly where Lennie has gone to hide, and he meets him there. Realizing they can’t run away anymore, George is faced with a moral question: how should he deal with Lennie before the ranchers find him and take matters into their own hands.
Author: John Steinbeck
Historian’s Corner
The third production of the season was the dramatization of the John Steinbeck classic novel “Of Mice and Men.” The cast of ten actors ranged in age from their early twenties through to their sixties. This production also featured a dog on stage playing an important plot point that involves one of the characters. The use of live animals on stage can always be unpredictable. This production was very successful in its presentation of school performances. The reviewer found the production and the actors to be strong, nuanced and true to Steinbeck’s vision.