Review: VIRTUAL STREAMING OF DEATH OF A DRIVER PRODUCED BY THE UNICORN THEATRE at The Unicorn Theatre

The Unicorn Theatre is currently streaming a virtual theatre production of Will Snider's play DEATH OF A DRIVER. The feature is available through November 29 and when ordered through the box office the purchaser has 48 hours to view the production. The Associate Artistic Director for The Unicorn, Ian R. Crawford, directs this production as The Unicorn continues to invest resources in an attempt to keep artists working through the pandemic.

Teddy Trice, a Kansas City native, stars as Kennedy and has appeared on Broadway in THE BOOK OF MORMON. Elise Poehling, also a Kansas City native, stars as Sarah. Both actors rehearsed and filmed their characters in their own homes, Poehling in Kansas City and Trice in New York. In post-production, it was intended to edit the two performances together to make it look as if they are holding a conversation. Poehling was presented in this way, but the performance of Trice for most of the hour and fifteen minutes gave the appearance that he was looking into the camera and not at the other character. The characters appear in the same costume throughout the 20 years the play covers. Sometimes with a jacket and other times without, Poehling does have a change of shirt once.

Unfortunately, post-production editing leaves a lot to be desired. At times when Sarah takes a drink from a bottle, half the bottle disappears as does Kennedy's hand when he is waving his arms around. Twice during the play, Kennedy finds himself in prison for his political beliefs. The first time it is just an open room and the second time bars are placed in front of him. They should have left the bars out as they appear transparent and take attention away from the dialogue.

DEATH OF A DRIVER is written as a critical look at understanding one another and what happens when personal and political views clash. It is a story of Sarah, who has come to Kenya to build a road, and Kennedy, a taxicab driver she hires to spearhead the project. Unfortunately, ten minutes into the program I wanted to build a road away from the device I was streaming it on. The dialogue sounds more like two high school students talking and cutting up rather than two adults trying to create a bond to help a country.

The best thing about DEATH OF A DRIVER is that purchasing the code to view it does help to support the arts in Kansas City.

Photos courtesy of The Unicorn Theatre