Sarah Sleeger
Staff Writer
“Red Noses” is a humorous and moving play, combining death, joy, sorrow, humor, satire, love, singing, and dancing.
It is full of moving moments, humorous dialogue, and thought provoking scenes.
Set in 14th Century France, “Red Noses” is a touching and funny story about Marcel Flote, a Catholic monk, who is eager to help people during the Great Plague that is killing everyone in its path.
At the beginning of the play, Father Flote, played by junior Zachary Green, prays to the heavens looking for an answer to the despair consuming his community and his country.
His answer comes in the form of accidental laughter.
Father Flote then goes on a journey, picking up supporters along the way, to make people laugh in this time of sorrow.
Of course, his journey is not without difficulty.
Flote’s group of saviors include a blind juggler and his assistant, a man who speaks with bells, a nun, two one-legged dancers, mercenary soldiers, a stand-up comic who stammers and another Father who has zero interest in going along with this crowd, but is forced to do so.
The entire cast played their characters as individuals well and seemed to mesh cohesively together, but Green’s performance stood head and shoulders above the rest.
It was clear Green put a lot of time and effort into his character and that came through in his portrayal.
Another stand out performance was given by junior Raymond Del Rio who played blind juggler “Le Grue.” Almost every word that came out of his mouth was hilarious.
Not only was his dialogue funny, but completely believable in his character being blind.
A ten-minute intermission complemented the extensiveness of the play.
Much of the audience was intrigued and enjoyed the first half of the show, but after the intermission, it was clear some audience members were getting restless.
The humorous dialogue died down, the interest in the story was slowly diminishing, and overall it was just too much time in the same, fairly uncomfortable, seat.
It would have been nice to see the set and scenery change, at least after the intermission.
However, the play allowed you to walk away with something to contemplate and with your brain feeling stimulated.
The play is worth watching, but be prepared for the length of time you will be sitting in that seat as it started at 7:30 p.m. and did not end until 11 p.m.
“Red Noses” will have another performance tonight and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., followed by a matinee performance on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Sarah Sleeger can be reached at sarah.sleeger@laverne.edu.
