Artists Repertory Theatre **Photo credit: Owen Carey**October 15 - December 7, 2008 **Extended**
Summary:
Speech & Debate examines what it means to connect with other people in a world of IMing, podcasts, social networking websites. Three misfits find themselves united by a sex scandal with the potential to rock their town and school, and in the process form the school’s Speech and Debate club.
5 comments:
Great setting. Very well written and staged. Rowe stole the show with not her quirks (which WERE great) but honesty in just having fun up there. de Forest did not convince me for one moment any real connection on stage. He played Soloman the same way as the character he played in 'Pylon' who was soooo different. Technically sound, but not much else. Herman showed that less is more in this play and he was a joy to watch. There was no room for 'acting' in this one and it really worked. All in all the ensemble was good and the overall experience was a delight. Being led around the corridors of the theatre into a classroom felt very underground and above all transporting. Isn't that what going to a play is all about? "Speech and Debate" was terrific, go see it.
Speech & Debate is a very well directed and well acted, four-person play that provides humorous and poignant insight into what it is like to be a high school student today who is not part of the “in crowd.” Set in a room that feels just like a ubiquitous high school classroom, and which could be anywhere, the three leads exchange text messages, sing and come together not necessarily as friends but as comrades in arms against a world that does not quite get them and which they do not quite get themselves. In a little over a hour and a half, you get what it means to be a in high school, growing up in today’s world. The actors live the angst, and the directing is fast-paced and wonderfully inventive. See this show! It is a fun, moving and very entertaining look at the high school world that is off everyone’s radar, but shouldn’t be.
i'm surprised this show hasn't sparked more debate.
It might have, were it not terrible. The whole thing was crafted around one blunt metaphor that required the author to portray a perfectly decent Salem high school as the sort of podunk institution where no one would have heard of speech and debate or the gay/straight alliance. The acting was okay, I suppose, but the script was anything but. This playwright did a good job with real events in Columbinus, but his take on fiction is lacking. I was in high school just a few years ago, and this did not feel "true."
I have to disagree with the last post! I am a current high school teacher and this was a powerful show! Speech and debate is a "dying art" in today's schools and no one showed up at the gay/straight alliance because there is STILL a lot of discrimination going on .... The acting in this show was outstanding. I could point to several of my own students represented by those three great performers. I only wish the school administrations would allow this material to be done at the high school or allow students to see this show on a field trip!
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