Cast of Bavaria Performing Arts’ production of “The Book Club Play” (Lilly Simonis)
Secrets come to life on camera in “The Book Club Play” at Bavaria Performing Arts in Grafenwöhr. Directed by Rachael Harper, the performance offers a comedic look at group dynamics as the members of a local book club become the subject of a documentary film.
The play is cleverly laid out in six acts, themed around six individual books and leading to the discovery of personal characteristic and stories for the six book club members. Between each act, a “Pundit” takes the stage to divulge funny anecdotes about human nature and our connection to books.
The cast of “The Book Club Play” are synchronous, working off each other’s cues and delivering the sometimes-serious nature of their interpersonal workings with well-timed comedy.
The affluent members of this literary meeting are led by Ana who comes across as wonderfully overly dramatic. She is a perfectionist, manipulating the meetings and directly speaking to the camera in order to steer the documentary toward her aims.
Bavaria Performing Arts’ production of “The Book Club Play” (Lilly Simonis)
The club meetings take place in her home, and the well-crafted sets give it a cozy and relaxing upper-middle-class feel. Add to that the fun banter about literature and we feel as if we have really dropped in on a slightly-snobbish book club. With the addition of the documentary film camera, however, the façade is soon revealed.
As the play progresses and secrets come to life, we begin to understand that this is a group of people who appear to be friends but don’t truly know one another.
Rob is Ana’s husband and is initially a reluctant member of the club. Over time, however, the books reveal another side of Rob. Lily inadvertently makes trouble with her comments. Will begins to understand himself in a whole new way through the lens of trash novels. Jen holds secrets that go well beyond the book club, and her invitation to new member Alex marks the beginning of changes too uncontrolled for leader Ana to handle.
Bavaria Performing Arts’ production of “The Book Club Play” (Lilly Simonis)
As more and more of the group’s secrets come to life on camera (and on stage), the perfection makes way for chaos in dramatic, hysterical style.
Things unravel, and Ana’s anger is palpable. We feel that she wants to keep the book club alive, but only on her terms. She is usurped and we discover that her secret comes at the expense of the book club members.
In the end, we realize that we may not know someone as well as we think and no matter how perfect we want things to appear, life still happens and everyone has their own story.
