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Grapes of Wrath was novel-length, a good three hours with what felt like an incredibly long intermission. It had the feel of a novel as well-- scenes following each other with very little segue, as though they were chapters in a book. The set revolved in between almost every scene, giving the scenes a very paragraph-esque quality. The adaptation was well-written, and definitely lent itself to a modern interpretation where an audience member could nudge their neighbor and say, “Ah. This looks familiar.” The loss of a home, the need to move to a different place to find work, the breakdown of a family over money and marriage: these are all struggles that we see in our lives, especially nowadays. It’s fitting that today’s post-recession woes parallel those of the Joad family in the years following the Great Depression. However obvious this similarity may be, it was surprising to not see any sign of it in this production, especially considering the ease with which it could have been done.
 

The strongest element of the show was in the design elements that contributed to the general ambiance. With the combination of the music (a live band, which made all the difference), the costuming, the set (including the wooden and canvas hanging pieces that served as projection screens), and the lighting did an incredible job of setting the audience directly into this world. There was a beautiful nostalgia and sweet sadness to this play that was well-served by the feeling of bleak but familiar pictures of history. Despite the hard times, there’s something terribly homey about a gingham apron and a patchy sweater, or a pair of overalls and cowboy boots. The music leapt from excitement and dancing to mournful funeral tolls, the same way the play did. It was easy to see, in some of the stage pictures, both a piece of history and a piece of home.
 

The actors certainly played their part in this as well, and credit must be given to the core members of the Joad family simply for their endurance at staying true and present for such a long show. The spirit shone through the clearest with Rachel Schulte’s Ma Joad, who kept the audience on their toes whenever she was on stage, as though we expected her to rule us the way she ruled the members of her family. There was also strength to be found in her son Tom Joad, played by Alexander Neher. The first thing the audience learns about him is that he has just been released from jail (where he was serving out a sentence for killing a man) and though Tom’s story line does not always lend itself to antagonism, it is important that by the end of the play, the audience comes to fear him, and Neher achieved that. All of the actors playing the family members were strong individually, but it was as a group that they ultimately fell short. If Grapes of Wrath is a play about a family, then where is the family? This production showed a group of people held together by a name and a car and not much else. Schulte as Ma Joad, with all her strength and character, seemed ultimately irrational for her desire to keep the family together.
 

When most of the Joads have disbanded by the final scene, there was almost a sense of relief that they made a choice to be somewhere else, rather than being required to stay out of familial obligation. If that was the aim of the production, it’s quite a despondent message considering how deeply we feel these problems in society today. If Grapes of Wrath is supposed to be telling us something about the current problems of our world, what does that mean for today’s families?​

 

The Grapes of Wrath ran from October 18-21st, 2012 in the Semel Theater.