The Archie Williams drama department, known as the Peregrine Players, put on an action-packed, two-and-a-half-hour performance of Begets: Fall of a High School Ronin from Nov. 14 to 18. Emi Nguyen, the author of Begets, also wrote She Kills Monsters, another play recently performed by the Peregrine Players. Despite intense content including fighting, cheating, and themes of homophobia, Begets is an overall enjoyable play. 

Begets: Fall of a High-School Ronin, was first written and published in 2016, weaving the story of a high school student named Emi Edwards, played at Archie Williams by junior Hanna Janson, in training to be a samurai. She hopes to defeat the other samurai, also known as shoguns, who rule her school’s cliques. As Emi rises to power, she must decide whether to protect her friends or rule her school as a top shogun.

Begets is intended to be an unrealistic and exaggerated version of what high school is really like, exacerbating experiences with the intense “cliques” and student “shoguns.” The play mocks high school movie tropes shown by heavily playing into stereotypes. 

Later in the play, Emi undergoes an identity crisis and fights her conscience, called Inside Girl, played by junior Maisie Ferner. Emi becomes power-hungry, fighting the cliques she had once saved and protected. She becomes the most powerful student on campus, but has to navigate the difficult decision between staying in power or reverting her former lower rank.

One downside of the play was the unnecessary harsh language and jokes. For example, in one scene, the token nerd character Patrick, played by junior Cavan Donery, meets up with a catfishing character named Chantal, played by sophomore Zee Chiaramonte, and discovers that Chantal is actually male. Patrick threatens to hit Chantal with a brick for pretending to be a female, expressing his anger at him. It is a cruel scene meant to display how homophobia affects lives, and the consequences of catfishing.

Despite containing some darker tones, the play’s production value was off the charts. The lighting and sound effects were relevant to the scenes, cleverly choreographed fight scenes paired with sound effects that amplified punches and kicks.

One such scene included Emi facing opponents from one of the cliques called Bandland, who fought against Emi with a giant cardboard and aluminum robot. However, their plan was unsuccessful, ending with Bandland’s portion of the school being handed over to Emi. With incredible stage usage, the Peregrine Players put together realistic sound effects ranging from the clanking of gears, to a power-down sequence once the robot is defeated, to actual fighting sounds. 

The show’s audience was packed on opening night, with students flooding into the theater from various classes. The audience was engaged and enjoyed the play, filling the theater with applause and laughter between scenes. Begets included a duality of intense fight scenes and dark, deep overtones. The drama department put on quite the show, keeping the audience on their feet with their action, and engaged with their jokes. With incredible production and performances by the cast, Begets deserves four out of five feathers.