Curse of the Starving Class @ Signature

[wolfwriter]

Being a Sam Shepard fan, I had high hopes for this production. Ultimately, this is just an okay production of a dated play that is really showing its age. That doesn't mean it didn't hold my interest for 2.5 hours, it's just that this production seems to amplify the flaws in the play instead of working around them.

The production begins with, what I guess you would call, a jarring coup-de-theatre that the remainder of the production never actually tops.

Shepard's play is populated with unpleasant characters looking to get out of their circumstances but they spend the entire play working against each other instead of with each other.

The play is very heavy on the metaphors, as is much of Shepard's work. I hadn't realized just how "on the nose" the metaphors in this play actually are, if that makes sense. It's part of why I think this comes across as dated and heavy-handed, when it has potential to be more timely and relevant, in the right hands.

Unfortunately, this play is populated with obnoxious characters. There is not a single character with whom to connect or root for, and that may be the point. Shepard likely wanted audiences to connect to his larger themes, but slapping people in the face with metaphors and yelling at them, probably isn't the best way to do it.

The set is fine. The lighting is fine. The cast is directed to yell every line, as seems the case with so many plays, lately. I haven't been onstage in years, but I can't ever recall being told to just memorize my lines and then shout them. The cast isn't bad, per se, but after a very long 1hr 40min first act, intermission was a welcome respite from all the yelling.

FWIW, the folks in front of me left at intermission and the person next to me yawned repeatedly and spent much of the play looking at their watch.

Not a spoiler, but there is a live lamb in the show and it got the expected reaction. But, I wondered if some of the audience had zoned out of the play when, during a monologue, the lamb was busy being cute and there were audible "awwws" and "oohs." It made me wonder if people were paying more attention to the lamb than they were to the human speaking.

I don't think this will have the impact those involved had hoped, but it's Sam Shepard and that's okay with me. Glad I went, but I wouldn't sit through it again.

PS: I don't want to be that guy but I'm going to be. There were not half-sheet paper towels 40 years ago. It's very noticeable and somebody was a bit lazy.

[CarmenA3]

wolfwriter said: "The production begins with, what I guess you would call, a jarring coup-de-theatre that the remainder of the production never actually tops."

I completely agree! How do you start with that and then go downhill so quickly? I feel similarly about my viewing...glad I went (to confirm that I really don't care for Shepard, especially after this and True West) but can cross him off my list now.

PS: I don't want to bethat guybut I'm going to be. There were not half-sheet paper towels 40years ago. It's very noticeable and somebody was a bit lazy."

LOL - yes, please be that person! That's hilarious!

[RippedMan]

Can you describe the beginning? Just use the spoiler tag?

[Synecdoche2]

To offer a contrary opinion for those interested in this production, I thought it was rather terrific and I found the play to be a bit of an under-appreciated masterwork. It's brutal and very poetic (read: not at all naturalistic) but it's also sweepingly epic and very affecting (and this is coming from someone who is not generally a Shepard fan). 

[Tom-497]

I saw the show this evening and it struck me as a very good play that's unfortunately receiving a mediocre production. There's a lot of shouting (largely justified by the text), but I seldom felt that the actors were really latching onto their characters' wild, end-of-your-rope desperation. 

I would agree, though, that the opening moments are incredible -- completely unexpected yet also completely of a piece with the story being told.

[Roscoe]

I saw it over the weekend and felt as others have felt -- rather lacking in Shepard's humor, and way too heavy-handed and ponderous, it announced its own importance in every single second.  The opening gimmick was certainly spectacular, but it felt too on the nose, too blatant and obvious -- maybe if it had come later in the play, or something.

The squalor of the set got to be a distraction.  

[Kad]

I'm sorry to say that after a first act that seemed like an eternity, I did not return after intermission. I am not a huge Shepard fan, but the one-note, start-at-a-10 performances here did not do the text any justice. Yes, the opening set reveal is great, but like the performances... it left the production with nowhere to go.