Gin Game Review

Who says a play needs a cast of 60 to be great? Well whoever does is dead wrong. The amazing play titled, "The Gin Game" has a cast of only two people and it blew away my concept of characters and was overall a great play. The characters were amazingly in depth and realistic, with emotions perfectly portrayed and reactions that really spoke for themselves. The writing as well was genius. Show any potty mouth this play and guaranteed, he will think twice about his daily diction. Taking a simple concept of a card game and turning it into a great work like this is a real accomplishment to be proud of.

In the exposition, two characters are introduced. They are elderly and speak to each other like two strangers would; unsure and friendly. He invites her to play cards with him as an ice breaker and they begin simple conversation and get to know each other. During this, the characters are slowly elaborated upon and you start to learn things about them and the story picks up. The next time they meet they begin to play gin again and right off the bat, you know they have become fond of each other or at least more comfortable around each other because they have nicer clothes, they spoke easier, and just interacted well. By the end of the play, they know practically everything about each other and it becomes very dramatic and emotional. Their characters are beautifully uncovered throughout the entire play and there isn't a moment of flaw I their characters. Nice job on that, playwright.

The diction was another great part of this work. It played such a great role and just bringing out the emphasis on certain words that are taken for granted every day made me realize how powerful words can be in a play. Neither of the characters use a single swear word in the exposition or the first little section of the play. Then word after word they integrate more frequently and frequently until finally the old woman is pushed to the edge and lets one of them slip out and the whole course of the scene is thrown off. Really amazed me how well the playwright did that whole thing. Sure, you can force as many swears into a play as the FCC will allow in order to create a powerful play or monologue, but this play shows how very unnecessary that really is. Though it takes lots of rising action in this play, if you're a good playwright, you may be able to make it powerful in a brief amount of time. But some may argue that it takes time.

Overall, I would definitely pay to see this play live. It was very well written and truly changed my thinking of plays. When It started, I was just thinking it would be just another play. But I guess that every play has something to teach it's audience. And this taught me some important things that will definitely come in handy later.