4.8.06 12:17am
So, the date above isn't really Day Five, but it's the day I've finally sat down to finish this blog. So, let's get to the shows, shall we?
I haven't yet covered The Scene by Theresa Rebeck or Natural Selection by Eric Coble or the 10-minute plays. I didn't go to the intern show, so I won't cover that. (Although I did hear that it's the best intern show in years. Of course, that's kind of like saying someone's a famous poet, it has limited meaning and use.)
Let's start with The Scene. Well, I hated it. Yeah, that's pretty much all there is to it. Maybe I was influenced by the exaggerated guffawing of the people around me, but I really disliked it. The jokes were obvious, the many, many long speeches were mostly pointless, the characters were unlikable ciphers, and the plot was pointless (sorry, I can't think of another word for pointless) and then completely without logic or merit. I hated the play a lot leading up the last scene, but then last scene took me to new heights of distase, and the pathetic, cop-out, meaningless final moments cemented it for me. I really hated it.
Of course, it got a standing-O and everyone around me seemed to love it, so don't take my word for it, get a script and read it. As far as I'm concerned, it was a desperate attempt to be "hip" and little else. Ugh. Blech! No more.
Natural Selection I also strongly disliked, but in a more complictaed way. the first act bugged me because, as in The Scene, the jokes were obvious. For instance, the main character brings a man into his home whom his wife believes does not speak English, so - get this - she talks at him really slowly and loudly - "Would you like a SANDWICH?" Could there possibly have been anyone in Louisville who hadn't heard that joke 12,000 times already? I considered skipping the second act, BUT, the first act had a great final moment. So, I stuck around.
I admit that I got a little drawn in during the second act. The actual ideas behind the play - and they are big ones - started to come through and I was engaged until the end. The end could be powerful, but it needs a rewrite and a director who's willing to go for the gusto. Marc Masterson was a little wimpy, and the end seemed kind of thrown together. Climax, people, climax, please! (Full disclosure: I'm NOT generally a fan of his work in Lousiville.) So, I didn't like the play, but do think that it has the potential to turn into something really cool.
The ten minute plays were really cool, mostly. I'll say this definitely, they were the best I've seen at the Festival. One at a time, backwards.
The last 10min piece was The Listeners by "Jane Martin", directed by Jon Jory. Now, I was really excited for this. I AM a fan of Jon Jory's directing and his/Jane Martin's writing, and my friend John and I were discussing the fact the this had the potential to be the best thing in the festival. But, it wasn't.
The play had some fun bits, and great performances and directing, but the whole ten minutes only existed so that the lead actress could spew out a 3-minute rant against G.B.Jr. Now, I'm all for that, but it wasn't much of a play, and that was disappointing.
Three Guys and a Brenda by Adam Bock. Full disclosure: I was chatting/flirting with Adam Bock throughout weekend, but I think I can still give an honest review.
This play was definitely funny and original. I'll put it this way. It wasn't the most brilliant work of the weekend, but it was subtle, charming, intelligent, and worth watching. The performances and directing were great, and the humor led to a few very honest and original moments. That's more than you can say for most work. So, good work Adam. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Sovereignty by Rolin Jones. DAMN! I think I can definitively say that this was the best play of the weekend. Strange that, I know. But, it was brilliant. Jones presented a play that was funny and convincing enough that some people didn't even realize it was a very complex and important allegory. It struck just the right balance in that it was very specific, yet open to interpretation. Among my friends at the Festival, it generated far more discussion that any play of the weekend. I loved it. I admire it, and the more I talk and think about it, the more I realize what an amazing piece of work it was. Bold, clever in the best way, political AND personal. Wow. Wow. Wow.
So, that's that, but I'm not quite done.
Let me go back to the SITI show for a moment. I missed it the first time. I did. I usually think that I "get" their shows in large part the first time I see them, the the additional viewings just take me deeper. This one, however, I really didn't get until the second time I saw it. Part of it was the nature of the material, part of it was, oddly, where I was sitting. I sat on the side the first time, right in front the second time. There were certain details that I simply couldn't see the first time. Also, my gaze was sometimes drawn to places that caused me to miss what I maybe should have been looking at. Sitting in front also put me physically closer to the actors, which makes a big difference when it's the SITI Co. The third time I saw it, I sat on the side again, and it was, again, a more distanted exprience, physically and emotionally.
So, I still stand by my criticisms of the play to an extent, I do think there's some work to be done yet, and that the through-lines could be stronger and that the pace is too much the same in the 2nd 3rd of the show. But, don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful show, and if you do "get" it, it's a very emotional experience.
I think that ends my Humana coverage for this year. Tune in next year for more of the same.