On November 13th I attended the play “Crumble: Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake” in the Experimental Theater at Richard Stockton College and was thoroughly impressed with the production. Each character was casted perfectly and portrayed their character perfectly. It was easy to choose a character to relate to because each was completely different from the next. The little girl was reckless and misunderstood. She was also hilarious with her childish humor and belief in the make-believe. Then there was the Cat Lady who had fifty-seven cats. She used her cats to avoid the truth that she could not have children. She was constantly looking for something to fill the space she had left that only having her own children would fill. The Mom was constantly trying to force a connection between her and her daughter. The father’s death was very traumatic for both of them and in it they became very distant from each other. The House was also dealing with a lot of loss. He was run down and needed some serious repairs. He would do anything to feel emotion again from any of the people living in him.
Through this play it became evident to me that everyone copes with loss in their own ways. Whether it was the loss of a loved one, the loss of what was or the loss of what could be, everyone has their own specific coping mechanism. Each of the characters were suffering from loses in each area and yet they tried to cope completely separately. It was not until they all realized that they were all feeling the same during the big event that they saw that each person was suffering from the same thing as each other. They all needed to be fixed, but they needed each other’s help to become whole again.
I suggest that if anyone gets a chance to see this play again that they purchase tickets immediately.