Fairview at SoHo Rep

[LightsOut90]

Caught this tonight and let me just say, its a STUNNER if you liked Octaroon you are going to love this brilliant meta-theatrical play and without getting into detail, the ending is one of the craziest things I've experienced in the theater and ended with audience members yelling at each other and actors

 

walk run swim, knock someone out to get a ticket the less i say the better, go into this one with as little info as possible. 

[newintown]

There is something that potential audience members may want to know before buying tickets.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

At the end of the show, all white members of the audience are more or less forced to leave their seats, bags, etc. and stand on the stage to be looked at by some of the cast (who go into the house). The yelling that the OP mentions may have been between those who didn't want to participate and the cast. It's a very jejune conceit, clearly the work of a young playwright who thinks that they're being provocative and cutting edge. I found the entire evening to be tiresome and pretentious.

 

[LightsOut90]

newintown said: "There is something that potential audience members may want to know before buying tickets.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

At the end of the show, all white members of the audience are more or less forced to leave their seats, bags, etc. and stand on the stage to be looked at by some of the cast (who go into the house). The yelling that the OP mentions may have been between thosewho didn't want to participate and the cast. It's a very jejune conceit, clearly the work of a young playwright who thinks that they're being provocative and cutting edge. I found the entire evening to be tiresome and pretentious.

fun fact you are actually very wrong it was two women of color who were engaging with the actors
additionally you aren't FORCED to do anything as several older patrons chose to do last night, if you found it to be tiresome and pretentious you missed the ENTIRE point of the show and for that I feel sorry for you. 

 

[newintown]

Do they pay you well at Soho Rep?

[AC126748]

The "surprise" here hardly seems original. It sounds like a variation on what Taylor Mac has been doing for years.

[VotePeron]

This sounds awful to me. I don't like audience participation in any form, ever. The only times I've felt it done right is The Great Comet, where you knew you were in a safe, warm space and wouldn't be messed with. 

[LightsOut90]

NYT Critics Pick

NY Magazine is positive (review is somewhat spoiler-ish) http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/reviewing-fairview-a-play-that-almost-demands-that-i-dont.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=s1&utm_campaign=vulture

[little_sally]

What's the running time?

[JBC3]

little_sally said: "What's the running time?"

NYT review says 2 hrs.

[annang]

newintown said: "There is something that potential audience members may want to know before buying tickets.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

At the end of the show, all white members of the audience are more or less forced to leave their seats, bags, etc. and stand on the stage to be looked at by some of the cast (who go into the house). The yelling that the OP mentions may have been between thosewho didn't want to participate and the cast. It's a very jejune conceit, clearly the work of a young playwright who thinks that they're being provocative and cutting edge. I found the entire evening to be tiresome and pretentious.

Thank you so, so much for this. I was so excited about this play, and now I know that I simply can’t attend. I really wish they’d warn people. It’s an accessibility issue for many theater patrons with disabilities, if nothing else.

In related news, anyone who wants to buy a pair of face value tickets to Fairview on 7/10, PM me. The entire run is sold out, so I’d love to see them go to someone who can enjoy them.

 

[Relevance81491]

When I did the $1 Sunday (arrived an hour before they started selling, and I believe I was one of the last to get a ticket) about two weeks ago they added a line about "if you are physically able" to the "experiment".  Hearing about the ending made me nervous, but I wound up rather enjoying this one.  I applaud Soho Rep's continued commitment to emerging and unique voices and artists.   

Out of a desire to see what would happen, I declined the invitation to participate in the experiment and do not feel as though I was singled out 

[Relevance81491]

When I did the $1 Sunday (arrived an hour before they started selling, and I believe I was one of the last to get a ticket) about two weeks ago they added a line about "if you are physically able" to the "experiment".  Hearing about the ending made me nervous, but I wound up rather enjoying this one.  I applaud Soho Rep's continued commitment to emerging and unique voices and artists.   

Out of a desire to see what would happen, I declined the invitation to participate in the experiment and do not feel as though I was singled out 

[JBroadway]

Relevance81491 said: "When I did the $1 Sunday (arrived an hour before they started selling, and I believe I was one of the last to get a ticket)"

 

Can you please say more about this? How many tickets did they give out? Do you know how early the earlier people got there? 

[LxGstv]

annang said: "newintown said: "There is something that potential audience members may want to know before buying tickets.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

At the end of the show, all white members of the audience are more or less forced to leave their seats, bags, etc. and stand on the stage to be looked at by some of the cast (who go into the house). The yelling that the OP mentions may have been between thosewho didn't want to participate and the cast. It's a very jejune conceit, clearly the work of a young playwright who thinks that they're being provocative and cutting edge. I found the entire evening to be tiresome and pretentious.

 

 

Thank you so, so much for this. I was so excited about this play, and now I know that I simply can’t attend. I really wish they’d warn people. It’s an accessibility issue for many theater patrons with disabilities, if nothing else.

In related news, anyone who wants to buy a pair of face value tickets to Fairview on 7/10, PM me. The entire run is sold out, so I’d love to see them go to someone who can enjoy them."

 

 

Is the ticket still available? I’ve sent you a PM.

[JBroadway]

I did the $1 Sunday line today. 

This play blew my f*cking mind. I'd be lying if I said I loved every moment of it, but holy crap it's an incredible experience. I smell a Pulitzer. 

[JBroadway]

I did the $1 Sunday line today. 

This play blew my f*cking mind. I'd be lying if I said I loved every moment of it, but holy crap it's an incredible experience. I smell a Pulitzer. 

[RippedMan]

I'm so tired of the campy gay character being the comedic relief. Pass. 

[JBroadway]

RippedMan said: "I'm so tired of the campy gay character being the comedic relief. Pass."

 

I'm sort of confused. Are you talking about...

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

The man who plays a woman toward the end of the play?

Because that's not how I interpreted that at all. It's campy, yes, but him being a "campy gay character" seem very far from the point of that moment, and I'd hardly call it comedic relief when a large portion of the play is fairly comedic in tone, and that character/moment is a fairly small part of the show. 

[annang]

LxGstv said: "annang said: "newintown said: "There is something that potential audience members may want to know before buying tickets.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

At the end of the show, all white members of the audience are more or less forced to leave their seats, bags, etc. and stand on the stage to be looked at by some of the cast (who go into the house). The yelling that the OP mentions may have been between thosewho didn't want to participate and the cast. It's a very jejune conceit, clearly the work of a young playwright who thinks that they're being provocative and cutting edge. I found the entire evening to be tiresome and pretentious.

 

 

 


Thank you so, so much for this. I was so excited about this play, and now I know that I simply can’t attend. I really wish they’d warn people. It’s an accessibility issue for many theater patrons with disabilities, if nothing else.

In related news, anyone who wants to buy a pair of face value tickets to Fairview on 7/10, PM me. The entire run is sold out, so I’d love to see them go to someone who can enjoy them."





Is the ticket still available? I’ve sent you a PM."

 

 

 

Tickets sold. Thanks all. 

[bear88]

The play has moved west, to the Berkeley Rep. I saw it the other night. The local critics loved it. I respectfully dissent. There's no way to describe what I think didn't work without spoiling the play. 

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

There wasn't the audience drama described above, or in Sara Holdren's review. Instead, it was all very organized and civilized and, in my view, unearned. (It was a predominantly white, older audience.) Monique Robinson, as Keisa, does a fine job giving the speech that calls white audience members up to the stage. But Fairview just wasn't effective enough to make me, a white male, feel uncomfortable enough - and I was on the stage at the end, squinting at the lights to follow Robinson as she walked through the audience. (Squinting into the lights, while sitting at one of the "dining room" chairs, was actually the play's most disquieting effect.)

The first act is clearly fake, though well-acted and unsettling in the obvious sense that something isn't quite right - and the audience is waiting for the play to take a left turn. The musical shifts play a role in this, as does a family dance routine that felt more unsettling to me than the over-the-top material that follows.

The second act, a silent replay of the first with white characters having a cluelessly racist conversation, is a bore - in part because only infrequently is there a connection between what we're hearing and what we're seeing. The "white" characters' dialogue doesn't really bite, and when one woman starts talking about wishing she could be African-American if she had to change races because she loved her African-American nanny, it's pretty easy not to take the entire enterprise seriously.) The third act sees the white actors intrude onstage and chaos ensue. It's not a good sign when the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" gets played, and that wasn't surprising at all.

Playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury tosses out some interesting ideas, but it felt like she only really has a first act and an ending. The sense of danger described in the reviews and comments on the Soho Rep incarnation of the play was lacking in what I saw. My assumption is that the conclusion prompts some people to forgive the play's flaws, but I didn't think it made enough of a connection between that speech and the events beforehand.

[bear88]

Here are some of the raves for the Berkeley Rep production of Fairview. They like it more than I did. So did most of the audience members who stuck around afterward to discuss it:

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/10/15/thrilling-fairview-will-blow-your-mind-at-berkeley-rep/

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/theater/reviews/la-et-cm-fairview-20181015-story.html

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/berkeley-reps-electrifying-fairview-makes-you-both-viewer-and-viewed

https://www.theatrius.com/2018/10/13/fairview-takes-back-black-culture-at-berkeley-rep/

https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanfran/s1932.html