“Trestle at Pope Lick Creek” is a play with a cast of only five onstage members.  I don’t watch or read that many plays but those which I have read, like “Death of a Salesman” or “Hamlet” have had a much larger cast.  It was refreshing to see the same faces undergo many different scenarios.  While all five characters were quite different from each other, their long run time gave them all a chance to experience and express feelings from many corners of the emotional spectrum.  Overall I liked the acting.  The majority of the character’s reactions were intense throughout the play.  The story is set around the Great Depression Era and seeing consistently high energy acting sometimes made me feel like it was a bit much and like I was worn down.  That kind of allowed me to see and also feel the stress and conviction the characters had.  There were some more subtle expressions, and a lot of them I found humorous.  Other reoccurring gags seemed flat out strange, such as a prison guard constantly doing charade-type motions and asking a prisoner to guess what he was supposed to be acting out.  Even a more unconventional action like the one described contributed to the overall story.  The Depression brings with it uncertainty and instability for the characters, and they are forced to try to identify what kind of state financially and emotionally they are in, states that themselves change with every failed job opportunity or every missed action of affection.  The very ending, which I refuse to spoil, was weird and definitely made me think.