Helen Harvester in Diana of Dobson’s. Photo by Erik Stuhaug. |
I always expect plays at Taproot Theatre to be well-done in
most every respect. Technical support (sets, costumes, lights, sound) is always
appropriate, actors are all solidly talented, and the experience is invariably
pleasing, at minimum.
Every once in a while, they blow even that high expectation
out of the water and their current production of Diana of Dobson’s is one such
occasion! The play is a gem of a script by Cicely Hamilton. It focuses on a
shop girl whose humdrum and restricted working conditions are similar to any
minimum-wage earner or factory worker in our current economy. She unexpectedly
receives an inheritance and, despite pleas from her fellow workers to be
careful and save her money, decides to blow it all in one glorious month of
pleasure that she can remember forever.