Word: scenes
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...essential to the film’s message, can nonetheless sometimes work against the film’s value as a piece of engaging cinema. One can easily tire of the brooding, plaintive gazes, and the zoomed-in, sped-up shot of a blooming flower in one scene is simply indulgent. Sometimes “Cracks” can feel like a watercolor painting; still and soft and lacking dashes of exuberant feeling...
Despite the play’s non-linear plot progression peppered with flashbacks, internal monologues, and scene changes between the island and the outside world, the actors’ superb abilities to transition between scenes keep the show cohesive and imbued with forward-momentum...
...especially with lines such as her distracted dismissal of her son: “Can’t you go play with the dead bodies or something? You’re eleven; you should like that sort of thing.” Palmer rises to the occasion in every scene, softening her character’s sharp and inaccessible edges and bringing empathy and nuance to a difficult part...
Both Palmer and Hoch shine in one of the most disturbing scenes in the play, when the 16-year-old Bishop rapes his mother on the island. Giuliani’s decision to have the actors perform the scene symbolically, with the stage bathed in sinister red light is a testament to her excellent direction. Hoch angrily stands at Palmer’s feet—yelling “Shut up!” over and over—while Palmer writhes on the ground, screaming and moaning in a scene as visceral and chilling as a literal representation...
While the rape scene continues, Gibson walks onstage and announces, “Ding! There will now be a short intermission.” Her nonchalant delivery of this tension-displacing line exemplifies her disturbingly humorous performance throughout the play. Her eventual transition between a desperate mistress and a paranoid schizophrenic effectively blurs the play’s reality...