University of Virginia Library

Repetitive In Nature

For example, the first three
scenes, which have a combined
running time of about 55 minutes,
are repetitive in nature: the Bishop,
the Judge, and the General are all,
when you come right down to it,
three facets of the same character,
and such detailed elaboration on
each is not necessary. The play's
potential is greater than its realized
effect simply because most
theatregoers just aren't willing to
plod through so much excess
verbiage to get to the crux of the
play. Indeed, they shouldn't be
asked to.

Given the situation, Miss Mease
should have cut more of the play
than she did. This, however, is the
only complaint I can register
against her handling of "The
Balcony," for otherwise her
direction is imaginative, intelligent,
theatrical, and in parts highly
sensual. The sexual tension which
she conveys in the first five scenes
is one of the evening's strongest
features, providing these scenes
with a thrust which is absent in the
writing, as well as a distinct air of
eroticism.