By Elizabeth McMahon
The Manion Theatre had a visiting group of actors from Scotland that carried the story of a man that did selfless acts of kindness for the planet.
The man who planted trees is originally a children’s play, originally based off of a book with the same title, that features a sassy puppet of a dog that talks, and a puppet of the man who plants the trees; who is a little less than talkative, but cares so much for the planet and the people who inhabit it.
This play is very light hearted and cute. It was almost like a 4D experience. The actors would put essential oil on “leaves” and would go around the audience fanning us with the scents of lavender and other beautiful smells. They would also go around the audience with a spray that symbolized the mist and rain of a very dense forest.
This story was very cute, yes. However, it also showed the watcher the danger of corporate monsters coming in and taking the environment for all it has. The underlying message of environmentalism was very subtle, but hit me as a ton of bricks. I already try to do things that will help the environment in my day to day life, I mean, I’m vegan for the environment and I try to take short showers along with educating people about the things that could help the planet. I think if all children and even adults where shown this play or anything like it, they would also feel the same way that I did when I watched it.
The Man Who Planted Trees was shown on April 4, 2017 at 7:30 in the Manion Theatre with a reception that followed, with information on trees around this area that help the environment around this area.
