Movement Analysis of Middletown

            I went to see the play Middletown by Will Eno, performed by the Metropolitan State University of Denver Theatre on Thursday, April 23^rd. The show was directed by Scott Lubinski.

            There was a lot more movement in the show than I was expecting. I thought it would be a less physical show but that was not the case. Right off the bat, the Cop assaulted the Mechanic, holding him in a choke hold with his nightstick. From my angle I could see the cop from behind and not so much the mechanic but I could see that the nightstick was not near the Mechanic’s throat, there was at least a hand’s distance between it and his neck. They were in complete control without letting it seem too staged. Unfortunately, being in the space that we were in, where everything could be seen from all angles, it was a bit easier to see the staging behind this moment but it didn’t change the fact that it looked really good.

            Each character had a unique movement style as well. The cop seemed very grounded with his walk, it really gave him a very authoritative characteristic that I quite enjoyed and helped me believe his character. He also seemed to have a very potent energy, it drew you in and was very commanding with his presence. The Librarian had a radiant energy. I could feel the energy, for lack of a better term, radiating out of her. She brought a great life to the stage when she entered the scene. I could go into every single character but those were the ones I was able to feel and identify right away.

         I can’t talk about the movement in Middletown without mentioning the Native American dance toward the end of the show. The entire cast comes out and they do a Native American style dance together. They were in sync with each other and it was a joy to see. It wasn't perfectly in sync but it didn’t need to be. The fact that they were so attached to each other’s movements, made it more powerful. They all had a potent and powerful energy and they did a lot of skips and some small jumps during this segment as part of the dance.

Jordan Silber