Christopher Sergel (1918–1993)

A member of our club directed this play at my college, so we thought it would be fun to read the script and talk about the play. Of course we had all read the book – several times in some cases – so the comparisons to the book and the play became inevitable.

Personally, reading plays does not appeal to me in the least. Plays were meant to be heard and acted out. I only enjoyed this because I am so familiar with the book, and I could fill in gaps. Most of the important ideas from the book were captured, but I much prefer Harper Lee’s voice providing description and background than Miss Maudie.

In our stage version, the character providing the background was an older Scout reminiscing. That seems much more appropriate to me, since the story is Scout’s and her coming of age and understanding about racism in the South.

I gave this version less than five stars, only because it is not the book. A reader who enjoys reading plays will undoubtedly score it higher. 4 stars.

--Jim, 6/30/11… (meer)