She can’t communicate with anyone, and so she spends her days horsing around, misbehaving, and sometimes attacking other children. Soon after, they learn that Helen has lost her ability to see or hear.įive years pass, and Helen is now a little girl. Captain Arthur Keller and his second wife, Kate Keller, summon a doctor to treat Helen for a fever. Like 3.In Alabama in the 1880s, the wealthy Keller family has just given birth to a baby girl, Helen Keller. Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. The importance of deaf and blind culture is kept in the spotlight with The Miracle Worker, and this moving and unexpectedly funny production deserves to be a hit for SART. Regardless, Ladd’s rendering of this monologue was heartbreaking. Because Jimmy couldn’t be saved from the asylum, a continued visual would have enhanced the reasoning behind Annie’s persistence with Helen, as asylums were where misunderstood deaf and blind people were once sent. However, the omission of the haunting ghost of Annie’s ill-fated brother Jimmy was a missed opportunity. Such artistic liberties made the focus more on the family. Other minor characters, usually used to nuance Gibson’s play, were missing altogether. Randy Noojin as the stoic and bullheaded Captain Keller perfectly reacts with Kramer and creates a notable turning point in their relationship. Hopefully, he’ll appear in much larger roles in the future. As the Kellers’ son James, Calum Kramer needs very little dialogue to show an internal torment. However, there’s a beautiful supporting performance that deserves major acclaim.
Generally speaking, the other characters in this play only help advance Annie and Helen’s true story. Regardless of stance, the scene is challenging - in the best of ways - for the actors to perform as well as for the audience to watch. This brings to debate the different techniques of raising children. A woman in the audience gasped in horror over the severity of discipline Annie enforces while others laughed with understanding. The famed breakfast scene where Annie literally fights Helen to break her control over obedience is very well staged. Because of such powerful performances, there’s a genuine awakening in both these characters. She is thrillingly bold with her interpretation while managing to make her expressions and mannerisms believable. When a performer finds a way to personally relate to the depth of a role, we witness acting in its truest form. Her streaming tears prove that every moment is based in reality. In a wit-filled portrayal, she commands the stage. Director Jessica West’s casting makes all the difference. Both actresses shake up the familiarity we associate with the iconic, Oscar-winning depictions by Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke.
This production brings out two riveting performances in Ladd and Laughland. Can Annie reach Helen on a deeper level before her family intervenes with their coddling ways?
It doesn’t take long for the teacher to realize she’s facing the challenge of a very smart but spoiled student who is resistant at every turn. Upon Annie’s arrival, there is immediate apprehension as she implements lessons of spelling letters into Helen’s hand. Stricken with scarlet fever as a baby, Helen grew up deaf and blind. 4.įresh out of school, 20-year-old Annie Sullivan (played by Amanda Ladd) comes highly recommended as a tutor for the Keller family’s daughter Helen (Sarah Laughland). Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre’s immensely satisfying production of The Miracle Worker by William Gibson is on stage through Sunday, Aug. The only thing that connects you with everyone else is touch, smell and emotion. Imagine living in a world of silence and without landscape.