Boston Strangler Play Review

B.S- The Boston Strangler

Extra Credit Florida Players Review


B.S was a compelling play that made me much more interested in the story of Albert DeSalvo, the alleged Boston strangler. The play was marked by incredible acting, an awesome set and a truly captivating story. I was extremely impressed with the quality of the acting and the technical qualities of the show overall. Almost every feature of this play was extremely entertaining and surprised me with it's quality.
The first aspect of this play that I will analyze is the set. The set was fairly simple and remained the same for the duration of the performance. This was not a setback, though, as each piece in the set was utilized for several times and was used to its maximum potential. The set included of a bed in a prison cell, a bench, a desk with scotch on it and a couple of chairs. Each of these was used for several important scenes chronicling the life and mystery behind Albert DeSalvo. The prison cell/insane asylum was the most important part of the set, as it showed the intense conversations between DeSalvo and his cell-mate, who was probably the real Boston strangler. The desk was used also for intense scenes between the attorney general, the police officer and the scumbag lawyer. Every piece of the set was used to its maximum potential.
Another great feature of the work was the costume design. The costumes really set the mood in this play. These costumes consisted of the police uniform, the prison jumpsuits and the suits of the attorney general, lawyer, psychic, psychiatrist and hypnotist. All these costumes were used efficiently, and reflected the time period. The setting in which the play took place was the era of the '60s. These costumes were excellent, and even helped the psychic/hypnotist change characters effectively.
Another great aspect of this play was the acting. This was the highlight of the play. Albert DeSalvo was played brilliantly as a rambling, confused and troubled man who wanted infamy and fortune. Every other actor in the play was also excellent, and this complemented a truly riveting story. The story and the acting combined drew me into the play, and made me extremely interested in the actual story behind the Boston strangler.
One subtle feature of this play that added greatly to the performances was the fantastic lighting. The lights were always placed perfectly on the actors in the scene. The timing of the lighting and the entrances of the actors was perfectly coordinated. This spotlighted the actors in the story and helped bring me into the story. The lighting is an often overlooked, but essential, feature of an effective play.
The only small thing that bothered me about this play was the pacing. The play was a little too long, lasting way more than two hours. However, the intermission was poorly placed, as the ten-minute intermission occurred an hour and a half into the play. The second half of the play was only about twenty minutes, which made me wonder why it didn't occur earlier. The play could have easily been shorter, as there were many extraneous scenes between the lawyer and police officer, or between DeSalvo and his hallucinated victim. If some of the more pointless scenes were cut, the play would have been a perfect rendition of this interesting story. Amazingly, the screenplay was written by a theater student. This is an impressive feat, and the wonderful direction and storyline of this play are a credit to the theater program.