Rattlestick's A FABLE

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/9/14 at 2:33pm

It's playing at Cherry Lane through June 28. Anyone seen it yet?
Official Site

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 5/10/14 at 12:23pm

I'd also like to hear from someone who's seen it.

[MillieDillmount]

Posted: 5/10/14 at 1:10pm

I am going tonight and am super excited about it! It looks amazing! I'll report back tonight. :)

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/10/14 at 1:27pm

Not to be rude but why does it look amazing? I've seen nothing about it online.

[stevenycguy]

Posted: 5/10/14 at 3:38pm

It runs just under 2 hours 40 minutes. There are rows and rows of empty seats after intermission. The show desperately needs an editor.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/10/14 at 9:55pm

Friends with the director and saw some pics. It looks beautifully staged. No clue about the text.

[MillieDillmount]

Posted: 5/12/14 at 12:11am

I saw the pictures on the director's Facebook page too, that's why I thought it looked amazing, plus the synopsis sounded interesting to me.

So I ended up seeing the show today. It, uh, it needs work. I totally admire the playwright, and the director, and the cast to just jump in on this massive play and put it up and to just do it. But it's not there yet. There certainly are some great moments, some great lines. I feel it's trying to say something important about life, and politics, and what it means to be good, and what it means to be evil. I hope it can find it's footing.

This was the first week of previews, and afterwards I was talking to one of the actors (Samantha Soule was my reason for needing to see this. After I saw her in Killers and Other Family I'll see her in anything. What a talent she is!!) But she said they are doing a lot of work on it in previews. I want to give this play another shot after they open (I think) May 22nd to see how the play evolves. As a playwright myself I'm always interested in that process.

So, I would certainly recommend this show, I would just say to maybe wait a couple of weeks to let the play figure out what it wants to be. But, what I love about theatre is how subjective it is. I wasn't crazy about it, but afterwards, I heard others raving about it. May be this play just isn't my cup of tea, but it could be yours.

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 1:05am

Can anyone who has seen this give any insight on what this is actually about? The synopsis on the website leaves much to be desired...

[MillieDillmount]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 7:39pm

So, the play is about the devil (Luke) and an angel (Angela) having a contest of sorts to see if they can persuade this guy (Johnny) to become good or evil. Both Luke and Angela have their fun with him, making him do things, playing with the order of events in his life so his path will once again meet up with this girl he fell in love with in the beginning of the play. That's the basic premise - but the journey we take with Johnny is a lot more complex (I think more than it needs to be.)

It's an interesting concept that makes you think about how our lives stack up. Angela is presented as his good conscience, while Luke can take human form and manipulate the people in Johnny's life. The play has some great things to say about life, about what it means to be evil, what it means to be good. You just have to look out for it. :P

Did anyone else see it yet? I'm interested in hearing what other people think about it. I tend to have the opposite opinion about shows than most people.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 8:13pm

The playwright is the artistic director of Rattlestick, just fyi.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/17/14 at 11:55am

I would like to take this moment for a little public service announcement. DO NOT SEE THIS PLAY EVER!!!!

This thing is a giant fvcking mess. I honestly couldn't tell you one good thing about it other than the fact that we got to leave at the end. Most of the audience (what little of it there was) was smart and left at intermission but I thought "this can't get any worse" yet somehow it did. The script is terrible, the acting is laughable, the "songs" are cringeworthy. Maybe the best thing I can say about it is the set was fine.

First let's talk about that sh!tstorm of a script. The playwright (who if he weren't the co-founder of Rattlestick this would never have been released unto the world) thinks he's waaaayyyy more clever than he is. It seemed that he was trying for a Brecht parable but he ended up with dreck. Calling your nefarious characters Senator Forhire, Foowant, Hallie Burton and Bill Z Bub is neither clever nor funny but it did make me roll my eyes very hard. The random "songs" were pretty unbearable too because they were way too on-the-nose like calling things B.S.

Another reason why the songs were so bad was because they were sung very poorly. If the cast was going to be comprised of terrible actors then I would at least hope they could sing. Alas they were terrible actors and singers. I couldn't honestly say I enjoyed one performance in the show. I did, however, feel very sorry for the giant cast because they must know what a stinker of a show they're in. I even felt bad for the human wall movers but at least they got to hide behind the anonymity of the movable walls.

I understand that the playwright is the artistic director of Rattlestick so he was going to produce this sh!t come hell or high-water but I find it pretty damaging to the company's reputation. This definitely makes me think twice about seeing another one of their productions because I couldn't imagine sitting through something that dreadful again. It does seem that not many people are interested in this anyway since only the first four rows of the theatre had people sitting in them. I think it's best just to cut their losses and stop torturing audiences.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/22/14 at 9:42pm

I'm curious to see if anyone else hated themselves enough to see this dreck and their thoughts.

[AirJewels]

Posted: 5/22/14 at 9:56pm

Unfortunately I did. And after I read your review, no less. It was probably the worst thing I've ever seen. I knew within the first 30 seconds that it just wasn't going to work for me. I left at intermission and spent much of the first half debating whether or not I should feign illness and run out. Had I been in an aisle seat I probably would have. I had no idea what was going on or what the point of it all was. I still don't know what it was about. If anyone is reading this and is considering going, don't do it. Not even if it's free, not even if someone pays you.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 12:48am

So funny seeing the flip side of this having seen the director's comments. When does it open?

I saw "The Few" at their actual space and I didn't care for it. I honestly don't think I've seen a show there that I actually LOVED. But I keep going back. I love that they produce new works.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 11:46am

I'm sorry that you had to be put through that, AirJewels.

I'm curious to know if they still have the signs reading "*WARNING: A FABLE contains extreme acts of violence including rape, gunshots, stabbing, and poisoning. There is also a strobe lighting effect" plastered on every available surface. To me there was only an implied rape and no poisoning. Unless they knew that they were raping the audience and poisoning our minds.

RippedMan, I doubt the director would have anything negative to say. Everyone else is giving you real talk. I saw THE FEW as well and it was a masterpiece compared to this. I actually quite enjoyed both of Rattlestick's last offerings (ODE TO JOY, THE CORRESPONDENT) so these shows are disappointing to say the least.

[MillieDillmount]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 10:06pm

They do still have that warning.

Personally I think Rattlestick produces good plays (with the exception of A Fable, anyways.) But I loved the five Hill Town plays by Lucy Thuber (Scarcity, Ashville, Where We're Born, Killers and Other Family and Stay) with Scarcity and Killers being standouts to me. Also, I really enjoyed Halley Fieffer's How to Make Friends and Kill Them as quirky and twisted it was. I enjoyed The Few too, it was a strong play (although I think it was about three scenes too long.)

I feel Rattlestick produces plays about real people, who have interesting stories to tell. If A Fable is the first Rattlestick play you saw, don't let it keep you away.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 11:27pm

Hated "The Few" but looooooved "The Whale." To each their own! Not trying to diss Rattlestick! I love their work, just saying I've never been blown away by anything I've seen there.

Sounds like this is a doozy. And they put it at the Cherry Lane, so I'm sure they are wanting it to be a hit.

[MillieDillmount]

Posted: 5/24/14 at 5:26am

RippedMan - I'm curious what you hated about The Few? I didn't see The Whale, so I can't comment on that one, but I felt it was compelling.

Did you catch any of The Hill Town plays?