Beowulf, Lord Of The Bros: Theatre Analysis

The play titled, Beowulf, Lord of the Bros was a very unique and interesting show. It was different than most of the performances I have seen before, maybe because I have never seen a college-performed show with all student actors, and also that this show was a new concept of Beowulf to be written. The name of the theatre it was shown in was Titmus Theatre at NC State University, which is an “end stage” theatre. It was directed by Kyle Dougan. Overall, I was pleased with how the whole show went, from lighting, to scenery, to costumes, and of course the acting. It was neat to help with the “load-in” of the show and to see how everything started from scratch. By this I mean things like cutting wood for scenery, putting up set pieces, painting
Some character’s costumes had more emphasis than others, such as Grendel’s mother and the Dragon lady. Mostly, the main characters had on “normal” clothes; nothing fancy. The ensemble all had on black capes with hoods which helped signify them all as one and set a stronger mood to their chorus singing altogether. This also gave an eerie feeling to the play when the ensemble were out. Plus, they were there as narrators of the scenes. Basically, the play was a parallel to the original book “Beowulf”, except the characters were tweaked some and the storyline was different. The main character, Ross, has a “bro-mance” with his roommate who has to move out, so he quickly receives a random roommate from an ad online, named Beowulf (“Beo”) who starts hosting parties at their place all of the time, causing trouble with the cops. Meanwhile, Ross’s girlfriend, Cass, and he start having problems, she ends up taking an opportunity in London and everything goes downhill. At the same time, Beowulf threatens their neighbor Grendel and steals his laptop and other items, but he has to manage his way out of the consequences by making deals with a dragon lady and by hooking up with Grendel’s mother; persuading her to drop the charges. Of course, there is a happy ending which in turn made me happy. I think the production very suitable to this play because it fit the mood of the college scene and was very relatable. The actors and actresses were excellent. Throughout the production, the sound was projected in a good tone for the audience to pick up all of the words no matter where they were sitting. I was impressed with my fellow students’ singing and acting talents. Plus, the play was enjoyable for college students and anyone older. There was a humorous theme, and also about friendship. The directing was well-done and precise. I would like to see another show done by