You Can't Take It With You: Personal Reflection

- Tim Burge
Random, hilarious, stellar, fast-paced, wild, crazy, and fun all describe Greenville College’s rendition of You Can’t Take It with You. This crazy comedy had the audience rolling with laughter as a hysterical chain of events leads up to the climax that winds down with a tone of seriousness. Alice, a central person to the play, finds herself in quite a predicament when her fiancé’s parents come for dinner at her house a day early. With her random, quirky family, Alice soon realizes that the two families are worlds of different. As the seriousness of the issue sweeps in, the audience finds themselves at the heart of the play.
When the comedy turns sharply from laughter to seriousness, I felt as if the flow of the play was disrupted, and I was not a fan of the complete 180 degree turn. I really loved the funny parts, and some of the actors did phenomenal, but the seriousness seemed to come out of nowhere. As I mentioned, there were a few of the actors that stood out in my mind. Alex Gohde, who played the Russian ballet instructor, performed magnificently. His over exaggeration of facial expressions and embellishments of body movements made my sides hurt from laughing.
Also, Essie did an outstanding job on her part. At first, her horrible ballet movements irritated me, but as I realized, she was horrible! One of my favorite parts was when two other characters were dialoguing and Essie was lying on the couch with her head hanging off the front wiggling her toes in midair above her. Also worth mentioning was Lindsey, who played Alice’s mom. She became her character and never once faltered from it, and in the process, unleashing laughs upon laughs from the audience.
Overall, the play was wonderful. It had its ups and downs, but most performances usually do. I really enjoyed the actors and their abilities. I wish that I could have gone one more night, just to see it again.