Insanity/Sane? and The Listener

Just Add Water/West
July 22, 2006

Meghan McNeill’s curtain raiser Insanity/Sane? delivered pithy (and audience-pleasing) ping-pong patter, but I was left unclear of ultimate point of this light-hearted take on gender issues. Tone of performances seemed to escalate swiftly, even for bigger-than-life 10-minute ruse -- theatrical appetizer where storytelling still excels with distinct beginning, middle, end.

Liz Duffy Adams’ The Listener seemed inflated with recycled quasi-mythic, anihilist-future environment – like second-rate summer sci-fi relying on set-up alone rather than continuing plot, character development. There’s more to Listener’s desperation, but right now it’s glacially-paced, drowned in expository dialogue, overshadowed by predictable ending. Faux-forward slang interpretation made me ill-at-ease.