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Nadja Nikolic
Mr. Mundy
Period 1
6 September 2021
Rough Magic: A Magical Experience
Plot: Rough Magic, performed by the actors and actresses of the Clements Theatre Troupe, was
a remarkably interesting, and unique play. Taking place in New York, Melanie, a raven-haired
young woman working as a dramaturg, is caught off guard when a character from The Tempest,
Caliban, shows up at her very own home with a chilling request. He is need of Melanie’s ability
to free characters from works of literature to help stop Prospero, his own father, from wreaking
havoc on New York. Melanie is cautious and unwilling to help at first, as obstacles from her past
influence her decisions. Eventually, Melanie gives in, and with the help of Chet, an enthusiastic
underage lifeguard; Caliban, Prospero’s only son; and the Furies, three magical creatures which
have masked themselves as drag queens; she takes on Prospero and his evil, malicious plans to
get his magical book back. Magic-power induced Prospero will do anything to get his hands on
the magical book (even sacrificing his daughters), so the protagonist troop has a serious
challenges facing them, will they be able to make it through, not only saving the book, but also
saving the entire New York, and themselves, from eternal destruction?
Acting Evaluation: Personally, I enjoyed the actors/actresses and how they played their parts.
Ava Hosseini as Melanie was very natural while playing her part, she also had black-hair and
glasses, so her image totally fit the description in the play. She was dramatic only when
necessary and kept the rest of her performance calm and collected. After only the first scene, you
could understand and notice most of Melanie’s character traits, personality, and behavior, which
means that the actress did a fantastic job portraying their character. Another actress who played
their part well was Paige Yepsen as Chet. The way she spoke about lifeguarding was very funny,
and it sounded like Chet really did enjoy lifeguarding a lot and was proud of it too. Her
actions/movements were emphasized a lot and that added humor to the play. The last character I
would like to mention would be Eleeka Nia as the character Miranda. Her performance was
amazing, and she looked very in pain every time she was hurt. Even though her character was
one of the smaller ones, she played it very well, exaggerating every move possible in realistic
manner. It really took her performance to the next level; you could really tell how bad she
wanted to escape her powerful father and pursue her dreams. Finally, the last thing I would like
to mention is the directing. I thought that the directing very well done. The character’s
expressions, interactions with each other, and movements/choreography added immensely to the
play and really made the audience intrigued for the whole duration of the show.
Production Value Evaluation: Firstly, the set was extremely detailed, with many, many books
to fill the shelves. It was also an effective setting, as it supported most, if not all the locations
described in the settings. It could pass as Melanie’s home, Ophelia’s book shop, and Prospero’s
castle/workshop. This is an exceptional quality of a set because it allows there not to be a lot of
set changes and zero scenery changes. As well as this, the lighting of the production was very
quality work. The lights created a subtle, but powerful mood based on the scene. They also
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helped the audience differentiate between locations, as the backdrop stayed the same throughout
the production. My favourite part of the lighting included when the storm happened towards the
end of the show, and the lights flashed occasionally to show lighting. It was a genuinely nice
addition to the whole of the play. Another very moving, element of the play that thought
particularly stood out were the costumes. They were very well made and contributed positively
to the character’s traits. For example, Melanie’s costume was a very neutral, old-lady styled,
non-fashionable outfit accessorized with round-framed glasses, red lipstick, and a plain black
leather bag. This showed that she was a very plain person, trying to fit in, and showed that she
was serious and presentable. When the audience discovered her special ability that seemed so
childish, it caught them off guard because of their inference of her character based on the
costume. Finally, the sound effects were effective when it came to providing a certain
atmosphere. The sound effects were not only realistic, but sometime gave the audience a
forewarning or hint when certain characters would appear. This includes Prospero's two
daughters, Saisa and Ariel. A certain buzzing sound was used to imply their appearance. These
two sisters also had microphones that enabled them to talk with a certain flowy, but creepy tone
of voice in some parts of the play. Even though this was a powerful addition, and helped the
audience immediately get an accurate impression of their character traits, the sound would
sometime crackle, and overlap which could break the mood and sound less realistic. Because of
this, if this production would run again, I would suggest minimal use of the microphones.
Overall, the production value was extraordinary.
Audience Response: The audience responded very positively to the entire show. Everyone was
very intrigued the entire show, they did not fall asleep or get distracted. The audience would also
laugh at every humor intended segment. The lights, sound, costumes, and set pieces seemed to
impress many spectators, as well as the quality of acting judging by the amount of applause the
crew and actors/actresses received both at the intermission and end of the production. I would
say that the play was phenomenally successful!
The Basics
Rough Magic was written by the American playwright, screenwriter, and comic book
writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. He is a 47-year-old Washington D.C. native that is best known
for his work for the television series Riverdale, Glee, and Marvel Comics. Rough Magic takes
place in modern-day New York (most likely before COVID-19), whereas The Tempest written
by Shakespeare is set to take place in the spring of 1596. This sets a very large time gap between
Melanie and Caliban and causes her to infer that the characters Shakespeare had written in his
infamous play were based off real people. The play was originally done in New York.
Melanie has a very interesting character arc. At the beginning of the play, she seems very
plain and regular, just like any other person you’d see on the streets. This is because she keeps
her ability of freeing characters from literature into the real world a secret. When she was 14
years old, Melanie had tried to save a girl from her from early death by pulling her from the book
and putting her into the real-world. By doing this, she also unleashed the girl’s father who began
sending threats, so Melanie had to restore everything to what it was before, including handing
the girl back over to her dark destiny, with the Furies' help of course. After this, Melanie had
resolved to never practice her powers again. When Caliban arrives at her apartment years later
expressing the wish for her help, Melanie strictly says no. However, after realizing the severity
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of the situation, she decides to help. This also becomes the central conflict; Melanie desires to
live a normal life. However, when everybody’s life is put on the line because of Prospero,
Melanie must perform her secret spells again. She must risk her life to help stop Prospero before
it takes a toll on the people.
A possible theme of Rough Magic could be that you shouldn’t let negative events in your
past impact your future. This is because if you keep on dwelling on your past mistakes, you may
miss out on a lot of adventures and possibilities. As well as this, you should LEARN from your
past experiences. Ask yourself what you did wrong, and what you need to avoid. Just because
something went badly, it does not mean that you need to avoid ever doing it again. If you find
out the cause of the trouble, you can fix it for the next time in order to avoid another disaster.
This is what Melanie should have done; instead of avoiding her magical abilities based off one
poor experience, she should have learned from it and moved one to avoid mistakes like that in
the future.
Performance Aspects
The performance aspects of the show were very intricate and detailed. For an in-depth analysis of
the performance aspects, view the production value paragraph above. As for the super objectives
of the characters, Melanie had the one of the most defined objectives. Melanie’s super objective
is using her incredible abilities to help stop Prospero before he comes to New York and destroy
it. This is her main desire throughout the play. Saisa and Ariel, are two twin sisters that are loyal
by all costs to their father, Prospero. They will go great lengths just to please him, because if
they do well enough, Prospero has agreed to free them from him. Ariel and Sasia’s super
objective throughout the entire play is to try their best to capture Caliban and the magical book to
bring back to Prospero so that he can finally be proud of them, and give them their freedom. The
major idea that Melanie represents is if you believe in yourself, you will do great things. This is
because she was self-conscious and hesitant to use her powers in the beginning, then grew more
confident and realized that she could do whatever she wanted, only is she put her mind to it.
Sasia and Ariel represent the major idea that if someone is using you, you need to break free and
stand up for yourself because Prospero was using Sasia and Ariel as slaves, and they needed to
recognize that and stand up for themselves, and their freedom. Daddy issues.
The story can be told effectively by the actors if they enounce words well so that the
audience can understand all the everything that they are speaking. Additionally, if the actor
exaggerates gestures and facial expressions, it makes them seem really into their role and moves
the story in a positive direction. Finally, if the actors make bold decisions, it really adds to the
production by making it unique and interesting to watch. Everything listed above would provide
good examples of effective performance choices.
Conclusion
Some lasting thoughts I have about the show is that was very well executed, and it had a very
original take on Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. I thought it was funny, and the costumes and
set looked top quality. As previously mentioned, one of the central themes of Rough Magic
seems to be that you shouldn’t let negative events in your past impact your future. Another great
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representing theme could be that teamwork makes the dreamwork. You can apply these themes
to real life by doing just as they say. If you make a mistake, try not to dwell over it for too long.
Learn from the experience and move on, that way if you need to repeat the process again, you
will do it correctly this time. As for the teamwork theme, apply to real life by surrounding
yourself with reliable, kind people.
I think what worked the best for this play was 100 percent the actor’s/actress’s approach
to their roles, and how they played the characters. I really loved seeing how they overcome the
obstacles and their teamwork together was, like, perfect. Something that could have been better
was the clarity of some parts of the play. I didn’t understand a couple of elements and motives
which made it difficult to really like it. It was confusing, so I didn’t understand a couple of
pivotal points. Other than that, I would totally recommend this play, 9/10 bravo to the actors for
making a play that was originally cringey and all over the place so amazing!