Broadway offers a variety of options for it’s visitors.

By Spencer Schneier, Staff Writer

Published in print Dec 3, 2014.

On Friday, Nov. 28 the Circle in the Stage theater in New York City showcased The River, a drama starring Hugh Jackman.

Jackman is incredible in the main role, commanding the audience and stage, gripping onlookers with his strong voice and powerful command of his part. Whether he is in his thigh-high fishing boots, or he is stripped down and staring at his reflection, he brings a depth that forces the audience to submerge themselves into his character.

Set in a distant and isolated log cabin, the play is a story of his interactions with two different women. It is told by way of jump cutting, with the play jumping from one girl to the next while maintaining the plot.

The play explores intimacy and romance, and the meaning of each idea. Jackman develops deep relationships with both women, and both are told that they are the first person he has ever brought to the house.

He takes each of them fishing for sea trout, which he exclaims are a special kind of fish that create a rush unmatched by any other experience.

As the play unfolds, it becomes clear to the audience that neither woman is truly special to him, but that he is clearly searching for something more (he spends time literally searching for each woman during the play).

The idea that he is searching for something is further developed by the opening scene being him searching his drawers.

It is unclear whether or not Jackman is chasing a girl he once loved or if he is chasing the idea of the girl he loves, as the play leaves this fact ambiguous. He talks about how he only wanted to bring one woman to the cabin, yet by the end of the play the audience has seen him bring three.

The end of the play depicts a woman that the audience has not yet seen, and it seems to insinuate she is the woman he loves.

The end of the play leaves it unclear, however, perhaps doing so to make the point of love being an abstract idea.

This play clearly argues that love is something everyone can picture, but that it is an elusive idea.

Ultimately love can manifest as a fleeting moment, or a missed chance, and this play argues this clearly.

It is something all people search for constantly, yet it is difficult to find.