Arrivals and Departures Shows Promise of Future Talent

Arrivals and Departures is a dramatic comedy about an English crime unit attempting to catch a wanted criminal named Cerastes, played by sophomore Gabriel Bara, at a train station in London. The show tells the misfortunate life stories of a soldier named Esme (Ez), played by senior Kendall Casinger, and a traffic warden named Barry, played by senior Carson Beck, through flashbacks. Ez is transferred into the unit in order order to protect Barry who is helping the unit identify Cerastes. The show starts off slow but picks up and forces the audience to immerse themselves into the lives of Ez and Barry.

Almost every cast member speaks with a British accent, but Casinger’s was the most notable and realistic accent of the cast. Casinger’s performance overall was one of the best performances from a leading actor that I have seen. Since Ez’s story and character was introduced first, she was the character I was most intrigued by. At first she is quiet and standoff but as the story unfolds, you realize that there is more to her than just being an introverted soldier and being able to sympathize with Ez wouldn’t be possible without the emotional performance from Casinger.

In the beginning of the show the crime unit has the most comical routine of the entire performance. The unit runs through their roles for the sting and portrays different relationships. One of the most comical ones is when two unit members pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend, and after the “boyfriend” tried to grab his “girlfriend’s” butt, she threw a cup of coffee on his crotch. The show wouldn’t have enticed me to stay without this kind of slap stick humor.

Although Arrivals and Departures isn’t the Red Dragon Player’s best performance it was still entertaining and showed promise of wonderful performances to come from newer actors.