Vern Thiessen's Of Human Bondage

Of Human Bondage is a great play by Vern Thiessen, based on the novel by W.Somerset.Maugham. I saw this play May 10th 2014 at the Young Center for the Performing Arts in the Marilyn and Charles Bailie Theatre. It was a small theater with three levels. It has a lower level, the main level and the balconies. It had very uncomfortable seats that were very close to the row below and above us, even so it had a very mellow relaxing vibe. The audience consisted of mostly elderly people and middle age men and women. The people that sat behind me were very rude, constantly making obnoxious comments about the play and kicking the seat every ten minutes. The jokes were mostly geared to an older audience but i understood them too.

Vern Thiessen, Canadian playwright based the play on the book written by W.Somerset.Maugham in 1915 and the movie made in 1935 also by W.Somerset.Maugham. Vern was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, studied at the University of Winnipeg then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. Then went to the University of Alberta where he got his master of fine a. He is the past president of both the Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Playwrights Guild of Alberta.

Of Human Bondage is about a young medical student/artist named Philip Carey that lives in England. He has a clubfoot and faces a daily struggle with people constantly judging him. He wanders into a tea shop while trying to help his friend get his game on with the tea shop girl. He seems to show no interest in the girl and is actually quite rude to her, often talking about the german guy she was flirting with. That is until his friend leaves after he thinks Philip has ruined all of his chances. Once they have some time alone Philip turns on the charm and gets right on to as...

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... Norah was so smart and just wanted what was best for Philip. She was usually soft spoken but had a very loud laugh. She often made very noticable facial features when people would talk to her while using hand gestures and other body movements.

In my opinion the most effective character was Mildred because she had the most impact on the story and most of all Philip. She literally rerouted his life several times and he was so infatuated with her he could do nothing about it. She had to die for him to move on. I don't think there was a least effective character because the cast was so small that everyone was important. Even a boy in the opening scene that had like 6 lines was amazingly effective; saying “its all in the way a man carries himself” stuck with him throughout the play, especially because the little boy had clubfoot aswell so Philip could relate to him.