So, the reviews are in and all were very kind to the production. There were also very kind words about my performance as well. I am greatly appreciative for the positive feedback from the critics as well as the theatre-goers who have expressed similar sentiments. The response has been overwhelming! This has been a wonderful experience with a fantastic ensemble cast, fabulous director, and ever hardworking stage manager! Please read the excerpts below but do follow the links to the respective articles as they do shine light on this wonderful production team…cast and crew alike.
from Evans Donnell (artnownashville.com):
Mauldin is incredible as Lennie. The actor-director-educator is best known in the local theatre community for his podcast interviews at The Inexplicable Dumb Show website (www.inexplicabledumbshow.com), but after his BRT debut hopefully more will come to appreciate his substantial gifts as a performer.
Mauldin completely and poignantly inhabits Lennie from the moment we see him near a river stroking a mouse he’s found. The actor conveys Lennie’s love for George and his reactions to the play’s other denizens as a great dancer would; the technically and artistically-wedded movements, gestures and emotions present in each moment are mesmerizing.
Lennie is one of life’s true innocents, and Mauldin’s beautiful work so underlines the cruelty of placing a sweet soul in so sad a situation that your heart aches for Lennie. His scene with Haines’ unhappy and pitiable character is a great example of that; we understand what he says and does is not motivated by prurient desires while knowing Curley and others will never see it that way.
Click here for the rest of Evans’s review.
from Jeffrey Ellis (broadwayworld.com):
Mauldin’s performance of Lennie is beautifully drawn as he portrays the lumbering manchild with a guileless mien, easily skirting stereotype—or taking the easy way out—by presenting Lennie as something more than a simpleton, yet something less than a fully sentient being. His performance is enormously affecting, his delivery of each of Lennie’s lines underscored by pathos and deeper meaning.
Click here for the rest of Jef’s review.
from Amy Prough Stumpfl (The Tennessean):
And Boiler Room newcomers Ross Bolen and John Mauldin are outstanding as George and Lennie — wonderfully mismatched in physicality and temperament…Meanwhile, Mauldin plays Lennie with surprising depth and quiet dignity. He completely loses himself in the character, his face lighting up with childlike wonder only to cloud back over with confusion and disappointment.
Click here for the rest of Amy’s review.
from Martin Brady (The Nashville Scene):
George and Lennie’s personal dynamic is established early on, and the thoughtfully rendered performances by Ross Bolen and John Mauldin never falter. As George, Bolen is tough, hardscrabble and realistic. Mauldin, meanwhile, effectively works his role’s pathos after developing a moving characterization that thankfully avoids caricature.
Click here for the rest of Martin’s review.
Of Mice and Men runs through May 5th, 2012 at the Boiler Room Theatre. Tickets are available by calling 615-794-7744 or by going here.