Profile Theatre
January 16 - February 17, 2008
Review by The Mad Hatter
Searching for the right stimulus. Tragic farce covering a lot of ground. Actors characterizations very strong but there was an evident lack of listening to each other and trouble finding the rhythm. Second act much stronger in comparison. Tobias mesmerizing. David Bodin hilarious. Grace Hsu enchanting. Kenneth Dembo’s monologue powerful.
***I was supposed to review A Few Stout Individuals the night before. I arrived 7 minutes late and Profile theatre wouldn't let me in. They have a no late arrivals policy. I think this is great and I wish that more theatres would institute this policy. It keeps things on schedule and allows for an uninterrupted experience. -TMH
3 comments:
Something very beautiful happens here. The acting is all very good, the setting cramped but still lovely. This could be a transcendent show if Guare's overlong script is edited. Currently the arcs are flattened by excessive repitition and unnecessary exposition. Badeau attacks, Clemens defends, family reacts, over and over. At the end of the second act, the play resolves brilliantly, and then the narration continues, and continues. This play needs an organizing vision.
long and boring. sure, the acting is very, very good, but i didn't care about any of their characters or the story.
It picked up a bit in the second act, but yes, the show is too long and repetitive. Talky in an essayistic way, un-organic yoking of farce and realism. I'm afraid Guare didn't manage to dramatize a promising story very well -- too much telling, not enough showing. Some intriguing ideas and a few good lines do not make a play. Great cast does a mostly solid job with this sorry script, though. Tobias is marvelous while virtually immobilized, and Thom Bray deserves big kudos for stepping in at the very last minute when Dave Bodin fell ill.
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