Going into Gracie at the Belfry Theatre, I didn’t expect a single actress to be capable of holding the attention of an audience for a full 90 minutes. However, Lili Beaudoin’s enthusiastic and believable performance of Gracie—a girl growing up in a polygamist society in Bountiful, BC—did just that, and more.
The unique perspective of the character made for a very compelling story. Beaudoin made excellent use of the space in the theatre to project her voice to the audience in a very powerful way.
The production itself was well put together. The use of lighting with Beaudoin’s performance helped convey the sense of time passing, the feeling of seasons changing, the warmth of the sun as it rose, and the light of the moon as darkness fell. While the performance itself was relatively quiet outside of Beaudoin’s voice, the use of sound and music in the show was incredibly effective for seamless scene transitions.
The set itself was simple. At first it seemed a little distracting from the performance and at times felt a touch unfitting to the theme of the play; however, Beaudoin made excellent use of the space provided to convey her story, so the set appeared to fade away as the play progressed. She often made use of simple hiding places on the stage to stow things away and out of sight from the audience until it was necessary to pull them out. Through her acting and the use of light and sound, I could really envision each scene she described. By the end of it I could barely notice the set behind her.
Beaudoin gave a stellar performance on stage. Her character showed a unique perspective on a controversial topic. The one-woman show that is Gracie is certainly worth a watch for the experience that Beaudoin provides.
Gracie
Until Sunday, February 19
Various prices, Belfry Theatre
belfry.bc.ca