A trying exercise, to say the least. Sitting through it is akin to running on a treadmill: you end up exhausted and you haven't gone anywhere.
It exemplifies the now much-in-vogue genre of the tract as play --- in other words, all tract, no play. The narrative is unfocused and uninteresting; the characters underdeveloped; the writing limp; the attempts at humor lame. (Isn't it time to put an end to adults playing toddlers?)
But in the end, in plays like this, none of that matters, as long as you have the tract. And that, by golly, it has, as it ticks off all the cherished talking points of the day.
Great way to describe lots of contemporary work. And nice embodiment of what I was thinking as I read the descriptions of much of the Public Theater’s next season...
Well, it’s still in previews so I imagine changes may be still made. We saw this this afternoon. After I bought tickets I ended up seeing it on TDF for a hot second.
This show has it all....and that’s not a good thing. I started laughing to my myself during the play because I thought to myself “What else can they add to this play and then they do?” Unfortunately they’ve added so many different topics that the play is unfocused and barely developed.
Unfortunately, the weakest actor plays, for the most part, the center of all the action. The rest of the cast does a great job with the material that’s available to them but it’s really hard to overlook the flatness of the Henry character and the actor portraying him.
On a positive note, the actors playing the roles of Pam, Chris and Myna are really good. The set and lighting design is impressive given the small space.
As AfterEight noted, it appears that they can check off all the boxes because they cover it all in this play.
After Eight said: "(Isn't it time to put an end to adults playing toddlers?)"
I find actual toddlers just go up on their lines too much, though.
Saw this Saturday, and had a nice time. I've enjoyed some of his other work more than this, Marjorie Prime for example, but I had a fun afternoon with it.
One of the worst plays I've seen in a long while. It's amazing that something trying so clearly to be topical can feel SO tired. It's trying to say everything about every big issue and actually ends up saying nothing at all. Seriously, I hated sitting through this and no offense intended but the cast is pretty roundly bad (though, to be fair, the material is far worse and I am sure is mostly to blame). I don't usually tell others to avoid something just based on my opinion, but yikes steer clear of this one.
Is it that bad? Debating on seeing it. Can get a $25 ticket, but these reviews make me not want to spend any money on it. Is the design/direction interesting?
I really wanted to like this one. I applaud them for casting a trans man as a trans man but surely they could have found a trans man who could actually act!? It's not like this guy was some big name or anything. It was like they threw every topical thing they could think of at this show hoping something would stick, and as a result it felt like a lecture rather than a play. But again by far the biggest grievance I had was that the main acting catalyst for the plot is just so incredibly bad! Every single line was said with the same smirky half smile, without a single bit of emotion.
CapeTwirl of Doom wrote: "it felt like a lecture rather than a play."
Yes. It seemed that way because that's what it was. And that seems to be increasingly the case nowadays: the theatre as lecture hall.
But why bother paying high prices for lectures in a theatre, when you can watch award shows and get them for free in the comfort (or when the lectures begin --- discomfort) of one's own home?
I saw this last night and found it entertaining enough but I'll echo what everyone else said: Harrison just throws everything to the wall to see what sticks.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
joined:6/5/09
joined:
6/5/09
Posted: 6/6/18 at 6:51am