“The Humans” presented by the Mask & Bauble Dramatic Society at Poulton Hall premieres Wednesday, Oct. 29 and is ready to blow you away with lovable yet realistic characters brought together by great costumes and amazing acting. If you’re looking for an intriguing drama with a touch of horror that’s under two hours with no intermission, look no further!
The play, written by Stephen Karam, is a drama that follows a family during Thanksgiving dinner with spooky undertones that had me shaking in my seat. The dinner is hosted by Brigid Blake (Addison Golden, CAS ’29), whose mother Deidre (Celeste Viana, CAS ’26), father Erik (Sam Levinger, SFS ’29), grandmother Fiona (Lainey Lyle, SFS ’27) and sister Aimee (Julia Toloczko, CAS ’26), are coming to visit her and her boyfriend Richard (Archie Rivero, SFS ’27). Throughout the night, there is consistent banging upstairs and flickering lights, all eerie things that tend to happen in cheap New York City basement apartments. But the main focus of the play is the tension between the characters — the difficulties of caring for an aging parent with dementia and the struggles of trying to stay close to your family when you’re living miles apart. Though “The Humans” is a Halloween production, its message is all-encompassing, something everyone can relate to year-round.
The set design works really well within the show. The story is set in a New York City apartment that Brigid and Richard just moved into, perfectly represented by undecorated walls with crackly white paint. It was clearly designed with great attention to detail; for example, the light switch for the apartment’s bathroom actually turns the light on and off. The set also had a lot of purpose within the play, such as the stairs that connected the two floors of the apartment. These were used multiple times — to show how Bridgid’s aging parents struggle to climb them and to illustrate the inconvenience of having to transport someone in a wheelchair up and down the stairs. The effort put into the set really enhances the effect of the show.
Though easy to take for granted, the costuming and makeup for “The Humans” brought the characters completely to life. In particular, the wigs for the father and mother, who both had dark hair with sprinklings of gray, made the characters feel all the more realistic. The same can be said for the clothes of the younger characters, who were dressed not much different from an average Georgetown student. Though it wasn’t very glamorous, the costuming was a huge factor in my enjoyment of “The Humans.” And finally, the acting is incredibly immersive. Though the actors seemed a bit nervous at first, they soon found their groove, and I quickly forgot I was watching a play. Their use of body language was especially powerful, each performer communicating emotion by showing rather than telling, even when they weren’t the center of the scene. The storyline of caring for an elderly parent, as the father and mother do for the grandmother, was particularly compelling and showcased this technique phenomenally. For example, while the family’s attention is still on the dinner, the mother quietly helps the grandmother sit down, only for the grandmother to push her hand away. Small gestures like these capture the message of “The Humans,” that loving someone is complicated. This meticulous dedication to detail elevated the performance from a simple play to a deeply affecting experience.
Overall, I highly recommend this play to anyone looking for something meaningful to do this week. It offers compelling characters and experiences that will resonate with everyone. Mask & Bauble truly brought this story to life, and I fully expect to see a packed audience at the next performance of “The Humans.”
