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mdemanatee's review
2.0
While I can appreciate that this play is a huge part of both theatre history and history itself (it was the Aiken adaption of the play more linked to the Civil War than Stowe's novel), I can ignore the fact that the play is pretty atrocious. While it may have been forward thinking for the time, today it comes off racist. And, it's not even a good play. The characters are numerous and underdeveloped. The scenes are short, choppy, and all over the place. The action errs on the side of spectacle instead of moving along the plot. Exposition is given point-blank. The first scene was extremely hard to get through as George and Eliza just sit and tell all this information that Aiken can't figure out a way to show (not to mention Eliza literally cries on her second line of the play). I understand it in it's theatre history context, but I do not like it and do not think it holds up today.
erynlasbelin's review
2.0
Having compared scenes from the novel to scenes from the play, I feel comfortable saying the play doesn't even approach the quality of the original story. It's understandable that character development and exposition were lost, but was it really necessary to lose so much?
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