Review: Devin Berg's MISTER MAJOR AND THE MINOR WIFE Enchants Audiences at Marlene & Spencer Hays Theatre TCU

"Sometimes the greatest show on Earth isn't the one you came to see". Mister Major and the Minor Wife is a dynamic and haunting original one-act play written by senior Theatre TCU student Devin Berg and directed by senior Theatre TCU student Hannah Wright.

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A tragic tale of stifling imagination, deep repression, isolation, and twisted forms of love, this play will take hold of your heartstrings and refuse to let go even after the curtain falls in close. Set in a small apartment that morphs into a circus setting throughout a series of hallucinations and flashbacks, Mister Major and the Minor Wife will grasp your attention from the very start, as enticing and evocative circus performers emerge from the wings and begin to taunt and tease our mentally-ill lead characters, Edith Major, played by senior Libby Rubin, and Joseph Major, portrayed by Theatre TCU student William Wheeler.

Seeing this play for the first time last night, the first word that came to mind was artistry. All aspects of this production invoke artistic movement, metaphor, and symbolism to create a multi-faceted emotional experience for the audience member. The audience watches with bated breath as four circus performers, a mother, and a son navigate the strains of loss and cope with the very real chains of mental illness. The unnerving Ringmaster (Faith Lawrence), Minor Wife (Carly Speno), Clown (Chandler Benzinger), and strongman Peter (Jacob Oderberg) function as a troupe of circus performers that mirror our main characters as they dance, trick, and charm their way through the telling of Edith and Joseph Major's story of the loss of Peter, Edith's husband and Joseph's father.

Mister Major and the Minor Wife blurs the line between reality and fantasy, as Director Hannah Wright articulates, "Here you will see these emotions on display in a variety of contexts and dive into a world where fantastical hallucination, horrifying flashbacks, and the raw developments of present day are fluid and interchangeable".

Come one, come all, join us in this circus-meets-reality spectacular! Step into the circus tent and remember that what you see is not always what it seems.

Mister Major and the Minor Wife ran March 23-26th in the Walsh Performing Arts building at the Marlene and Spencer Hays Theatre on Texas Christian University's campus. Tickets for TCU productions are $15.00 for adults and $10.00 for any students, seniors, or TCU faculty/staff, and can be purchased on the TCU Theatre website or by calling the box office at 817-257-8080.

Photo by Evan Woods.

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