Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Opinionist: You're Welcome.
Gothamist: "Of all the performing arts, theater has a tendency to be the most unbearable. You can easily walk out of most concerts, and with dance there's usually at least a certain technical proficiency to be admired. But particularly in small Off Broadway theaters—where, ironically, the potential for magnificence is greatest—it's almost impossible to escape without causing a major disruption. When theater stinks, which is often, you've usually got no choice but to suffer through it without anesthetic, as time slows to a crawl and your captors torment you with boredom."
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3 comments:
When I hear about a show like this I start to wonder how self-referential theater can get before it starts to just appeal to those who already like theater and alienate people who go to shows because they like the subject or something else about them. Personally, if it was running somewhere closer than Williamsburg I'd probably go see it if I could fit it into my schedule, but I'll admit I'm one of those people who would see almost anything that has a chance of being good.
I think this would be a delight to see. There is a kind of trend of irony in culture right now, and this only adds to it. I particularly think the fog machine part would be hilarious. It would highlight the part of human nature that just wants to find excuses for new "toys" whenever possible. I think this would actually appeal to enough people, because whether a frequenter of shows or not, the highlighting of flaws will become apparent and understandable. It also would probably have appeal in that its a series of plays in an hour, so time-wise it's very endurable.
I think anything that can make fun of itself in a classy and creative way is worth seeing. I agree with the comments above, this would be a fantastic piece to see, especially if you are a theatre person. I think in some ways you do have to somewhat be a "theatre person," or at least the article makes it seem like a lot of it involves theatre inside jokes. Which is okay, sometimes in order to say something you need to alienate some people. We work hard, we deserve to have a play just for us. And really, a lot of plays alienate their audience when it comes to knowledge about the subject. For example, The Lieutenant of Inishmore by McDonagh is mainly about the IRA, and if you don't know what that is, then the play may be funny, but it makes little sense. It's very actor's-nightmarish, and I'm very excited to hear how this does!
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