“Mauritius” Review

Tiffany Liechty left and Emma Banner right

“Mauritius,” written by Theresa Rebeck, is a play that focuses on two half sisters and a stamp collection. The two sisters Jackie (Tiffany Liechty) and Mary (Emma Banner) fight over who owns the stamp collection, which turns out to be worth a ton of money. The sisters meet three men, Philip (Andy Funke) a stamp store owner, Dennis (Alex Brown) a stamp collector and Sterling (David Korkow) a business person who lusts for these rare stamps.

Mauritius is a drama that is set in two different locations: the stamp shop and Jackie’s apartment, where her and Mary are sorting through their recently passed mother’s belongings. The black box theater was set up with the actors in the center of the room and the audience surrounding them on all sides. During scene changes, furniture was switched but the actors always remained center, which worked well for the intimate and moody play.

There were a lot of intense scenes during Mauritius, with the characters yelling, cursing and at a couple points getting physically violent with one another. This was very different then the two other plays that I have attended directed by Carl Lindberg. “Fools” and “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” were both, for the most part, lighthearted and funny. Mauritius, on the other hand, is a drama, which was refreshing. There were scenes that made the audience giggle, but for the most part, it was intense. The scenes that were physically violent made me feel uncomfortable, which I thought was a sign of good acting and a good use of the black box theater. Mauritius encourages you to take sides (I quickly sided with Jackie and was rooting for her the entire play) and leaves you with something to think about as you leave the theatre.

Andy Funke front left and David Korkow back right

Overall, it feels like DMACC’s theatre program has really settled in with Mauritius. The play was polished and well-rehearsed. It took on adult themes and let the actors explore the space. I enjoyed it. I am not going to become a philatelist any time soon, but it turns out stamps can be pretty exciting.

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