The Rehearsal

by Sarah Willis

Events will spin out of control in the spring of 1971 when the director of a small community theater invites the cast of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men to live on his farm for a month in order to lose themselves in their characters. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 3, 2001

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone who has worked in theater this will be an especially fun read. It is loaded with allusions to great works of theater and to the trends that were active in theater circles in the 70's.

The author "grew up" at the Cleveland Playhouse watching from the wings as her father acted and directed. She does a great job of capturing theater people. This book is full of drama and a little bit of comedy. BUT the ending does leave you hanging . . .

[JoAnna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three-line review: The future of a regional theatre hangs in the balance, so its director decides to invite the entire company to "live" its production of Of Mice and Men over the course of a summer on his farm ... what could possibly go wrong? There are so many unanswered questions from the beginning that make this story implausible, and yet the fallout is entirely predictable: relationship struggles, race-related issues, family drama. I really disliked the teenage daughter, and the daughter-mother relationship was eye-rollingly grating.

[Myles Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rehearsal by Sarah Wills is a book I will never forget. A man named Will Bartlett has taken his family to a theater which has been struggling to get out into public. To sustain the public interest he tries to recruit and ask for help from the cast of Stein beck's "Of mice and men" to his country farms so they could be the characters. Due to the fact of being wrapped up in self vanity, Will has taken everything and blocked it out, including the drama between characters and the tension between Beth, his daughter his wife Myra and the cast of mice and men.

On a serious note there are several things I like about the book due to the constant drama which is portrayed, if you like drama with slight comedy and romance. The story could be a bit better instead of being dragged out due to the pale storyline given in the first couple of chapters. William Bartlett does have this personality where he tries to get things done and be invincible but it causes a effect around him and his family, his wife and daughter angry at him which forces them to almost leave his grasp. He was so wrapped up in his own world he forgot about everything else.

Despite the couple chapters of boring reading I'd highly recommend this book if you're one for a drama, my overall rating for this book is about a 7.4 out of 10, it could be better but that's just my opinion. If you love things containing theater such as myself, please by all means check this book out. It will be for the better f you're looking for a serious book which portrays drama, romance, and slight comedy.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent characters and interesting narrative style, which bounced from the POV of each character, as if a camera were moving in a long tracking shot through the environment. A group of actors in the 1970s meet at the director's farmhouse for a summer re-imagining of a production of Of Mice & Men in an effort to save a professional theatre from folding. Although some of the characters were expected theatre stereotypes (the hippie ingenue, the aging homosexual, the solipsistic director), there was always a bit of a fresh take, as the narrative switched from one person's thoughts to the next, and each revealed their frequently unexpected reactions to the personal dramas unfolding with some (of course) parallel with the play. I'd read this author again.

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost didn't read this because the theater/acting is something that is SO out of my realm but it sucked me in quickly and was pretty good. I felt like it ended too quick though. I would have liked a follow-up or something. It just felt like this big build up to the climax and then fell just a little flat. I still enjoyed it though.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second books are never quite as wonderful as the first.