Pham 1
Name: Thuong Pham
Professor: Gary Katherine Snider, Anthony Reilly
Course: DRAMA1310
Critical Review of Ann Play by Holland Taylor
On March 26th, 2018 at 9.00pm, I was privileged to attend the Stages Repository
Theater’s exhibition of Ann play by Holland Taylor. On this evening, Sally Edmundson was on
her one-woman tour-de-force concert at the Theatre and therefore she had the amazing
opportunity to reincarnate the life and enthusiasm of former Texas Governor Ann Richards in a
stage play. Of course, my expectations were so high because I had never attended any play about
Ann Richards, yet she had been my idol for so many years. I looked forward to great humor and
an exceptional performance that would give me a first-hand feel of who Ann Richards really was
and how she went about her duties. As a solo play, all focus would be on Sally Edmundson as
she brings to life Ann Richards. However, I would have really loved to watch Holland Taylor do
the play herself.
The play started at exactly 9 pm. Sally Edmundson was exceptional, and she took the
whole audience by storm. There was laughter and clapping as she carefully mimicked Ann
Richards. She profoundly articulated the issues of gun control and equal rights for women.
Moreover, Sally addressed the issue of equal rights for the lesbians, gays, and bisexuals within
the society. Her grip of Ann Richards intonation was amazing as one would easily mistake her
voice for being exactly that of Ann Richards. Throughout the performance, there was no
hesitation and Sally demonstrated great mastery of her script.
Pham 2
Sally correctly uses the appropriate costumes that represent an elite woman who is in the
leadership position and her official outfit suits the office setting scene. In addition, her costume
correctly shows her age and is respected by the audience and her role as a governor.
Furthermore, the costumes were not dull and showed her happy moods when working and acted
as significance on happy occasions that she regularly had as a governor. Her earrings are
perfectly fitted and marched her outfit with the shoes and this showed how neat she was. On the
other hand, the costumes fitted the office scene and were bright enough to show the status quo of
the authority.
. The set up was an early 90s governor’s office with classical furniture and wall hanging.
The office had an old landline telephone that rang so loudly in an almost nostalgic manner. The
set contains all the necessary props that show how an office should look like. She effectively
uses the telephone in talking to various respective people. In addition, the background has an
American flag which is a symbol of authority in the office and showed how the authority’s office
should look like. The settings and the props went well with other designs and clearly showed the
level of the American governor’s office should look like and the elements that support authority.
Using the props makes the play look real and the setting makes the audience have the picture of
the right setting in the real world.
The play was well performed, and she used her stage properly. She brought out all the
themes that were expected and used her props appropriately to pass the message to the audience.
I recommend that everyone should watch the play since it not only entertains but also has a
moral lesson especially for people in positions of authority. In addition, it empowers women to
be more vigilant in making a success to some careers that seem to favor one gender.