Swept Away

Hey,

I saw Swept Away! And I want to talk about the entire experience.

Picture this, it is a late weekday night. I am watching a hallmark movie, and checking my Instagram. What do I see? "Swept Away announces closing date". Now, I had extremely mixed thoughts on whether to buy tickets or not. But when I saw the closing announcement, only having being posted 12 minutes before, I went straight to TDF and bought the tickets I had been keeping my eye on for several days, a Sunday night performance. 

How beautiful is this album cover!

I didn't know really anything about this show, except for that there was a ship wreck. That was enough for me. The first thing I noticed about the show was that is was so cohesive. The artwork on the outside of the theater was gorgeous. It fit the vibe of the show, and the style ran throughout all the merch. The show was one act, and I was hooked for all of it. At the start of the show, the main character Mate was lying in a bed dying. He is visited by the ghosts of the three other supporting characters, Captain, Big Brother, and Little Brother. They beg him to tell their story, to free himself of the burden. That's where our story begins. The show is pretty much split into three sections, all about thirty minutes. The first section is definitely the most fun and starts to develop characters. You meet Little Brother, who is running away from his life for one more adventure before starting him life. Big Brother, is doing everything he can to take Little Brother back home, when the ship leaves port, trapping them both on it. A large conflict in the show is that Big Brother is very religious, while Mate is not. This creates tension when Little Brother starts to idolize Mate, and think more like him. There were a lot of large ensemble numbers is this part. It really sets a feel for the show, before it completely changed. The next part started with the shipwreck. It was pretty incredible to watch. The entire set piece that took up most of the stage was rocking back and forth. There was a lot of fog and flashing lights, then the set was pulled up and sat upright for the rest of the show. The next 30 minutes are spent getting to know the characters more. You get to learn their backstories, and what they want to do when they get back to land. 

Here is where it gets very gruesome, so if that's not your thing, don't continue reading. 

This is when the final part begins. Mate starts convincing everyone Little Brother is going to die. My theory is that Little Brother was not actually as sick as Mate was claiming. Eventually, Little Brother agrees that he will die, and they could just kill him, so they could eat him. He just requests to see one for sunrise. At the point where Mate takes out his knife to kill Little Brother, Big Brother asks if he could be the one to do it. He says something about being brothers and takes the knife. Just as you think you know where it going, Big Brother takes the knife and kills himself. It was a shocking moment you definitely don't see coming. The rest of the show describes what happens over the next week before they are rescued.  Then they return to the ghost and since Mate has told their story, he can die in peace.

I didn't know if I was going to buy the poster, but I had heard good things about the stage door and the poster was very pretty regardless. I went out to the stage door and my mom went and got the poster. The stage door was amazing. Every actor signed and was so generous with their time. We talked about the album coming out. Several were saying they were hoping for a "Christmas Miracle" that the show would get an extension. Two days later, it got an extra two weeks. I ended up getting photos with John Gallagher Jr. (Mate) ad Adrian Blake Ensue (Little Brother). It was an incredible show and experience, and I wish it got the time to find its audience. 

Thank you for reading,

Makayla