By snoadmin
The University Players tests how judgemental humans are as they present “Side Show,” opening at the Studio Theatre Friday. The play is a fictionalized story about real-life conjoined twins, Daisy Hilton and Violet Hilton.
Directed by Joanne Gordon, theatre arts department chair, “Side Show” takes place during the Great Depression, when many Americans were denied acceptance from society if they were different.
“This play looks at two people who are, by some accident at birth, different and therefore denied any kind of hope for the traditional romantic myth that we all grow up on,” Gordon said.
Although set in the 1930s, this notion of societal exclusion still takes place today, whether it be cultural prejudices or simply being the outsider in high school. Gordon discusses the issue of gay marriage, and how gays are depicted as freaks by society.
“You have two people, who want to love each other and not hurt any one, and society condemns them as freaks in the most ugly terms,” Gordon said. “This play does it in a more obvious manner.”
Based on a true story, Daisy and Violet were born joined at the hips, and were the first set of conjoined twins born in the United Kingdom to live and survive after a few weeks. Mary Hilton, their birth-mother’s boss, took the twins under her care after seeing potential fame in them, and placed them on tour in England at the age of three.
After touring Europe and other parts of the world, the Hilton sisters settled in the United States, where they toured with the U.S. sideshow, performing vaudeville acts.
Although living in the light of fame may be a dream to some, the twins were exploited and mistreated by their caregivers at an early age, and then by the circus, as the play reveals.
“Side Show” debuted on Broadway in 1997 and failed to have an extended run, despite multiple Tony Award nominations. According to Gordon, many tourists in New York long for an upbeat musical with a “happily ever after” ending, or with sensational theater effects. Although this play has neither, it does have a deeper truth and reality to the circus world and the mistreatment of its performers.
“It all depends on what you want to get out of your own theater experience, whether you want to forget your troubles, or if you want to understand them more deeply and feel empathy, then this is that kind of play that’s important,” Gordon said.
Gordon compares the parallels of the Great Depression to the poor economic state that our country is currently in.
“There is this whole notion that when economic stress occurs, we need to feel better about ourselves by marginalizing somebody else, which is precisely what happens in this play,” Gordon said. “The opening, which is very Brechtian, ‘Come Look at the Freaks,’ asks the very pertinent question, ‘Who is the freak?’ The audience or the people in the Side Show.”
Despite the pathos of the Hilton sisters’ lives, the music of the play livens the mood with pastiche numbers from the 1930s and book music filled with emotion. The sisters’ first song is a comedic vaudeville performance presented with singing and dancing.
Along with a noteworthy undergrad cast, the play has an outstanding set design that is a huge versatile theatrical machine, according to Gordon.
“Side Show” opens Friday, March 16, and runs for eight performances, closing on Saturday, March 24. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with a matinee March 24 at 2 p.m. There will be one preview performance on Thursday, March 15 at 8 p.m. This production is in the Studio Theatre on the CSULB South Campus, accessible via West Campus Drive. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for seniors and students (with valid ID). For tickets and information, visit csulb.edu/depts/theatre.
