Donja R. Love's One In Two

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/25/19 at 1:20am

https://thenewgroup.org/production/one-in-two/

Has anyone seen this yet or planning to see it?

I see it tomorrow evening. Really looking forward to this one.

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 11/25/19 at 3:27am

I havent seen it yet but was told it has a similar set up to Everybody by Brendan Jacobs-Jenkins where the actors draw numbers at the start of each performance and that determines their role that evening....

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/25/19 at 8:54am

Interesting. Not familiar with "Everybody"

 

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/25/19 at 11:17pm

LightsOut90 said: "I havent seen it yet but was told it has a similar set up to Everybody by Brendan Jacobs-Jenkins where the actors draw numbers at the start of each performance and that determines their role that evening...."

Kind of.

Saw it this evening. It needs work and more focus. The number thing is confusing at the beginning and it starts before you enter the theater. I think I know what they were going for but unfortunately the show does not pack the emotional punch they seemed to be going for to make it really work.

I hate to say this but I was not impressed by the performances. There were some good moments but the actors were stumbling over lines and one accidentally call another actor by his own character's "name".

 This is Mr. Love's own story. And that is fine. I knew it going in. (You don't get your Playbill until you leave. There is an inset telling you that he wrote this at the end of last year and what the inspirations for writing it and finally presenting it to the world are) We should have gotten the playbill on the way in with the insert. In my opinion, it would have helped you to understand that this is one particular person's story.  And while it takes place "Now-Until", There is a moment of confusion in one scene with a certain character. I have decided that the character is older and still kind of living in the past.

I am black and have black friends that are positive. The show's statistics are correct (numbers) and I can see the events happening. They happened years ago and are still happening now. But I feel that Mr Love is trying to put out a wake up call and also pull emotions out of us like THE NORMAL HEART and ANGELS IN AMERICA. These two plays are referenced but by the time they were, I winced. I wanted to see a show about the AIDS epidemic through the eyes of the black gay community and was looking forward to this. But, for me, this is not the play that will take its place alongside the two aforementioned plays. 

The set is interesting and multi functional. It could have also had a better impact with better direction. The lighting is quite good as is the sound.

And then there is the end. It could have had a really great impact (Even though you get the feeling that Love and the director had a certain other play in mind.) Had the rest of the play been more compelling, the ending would have worked much better.

I really hope they are working on it and tightening it up. Especially with the story that is being told and the message of awareness that it wants to put across.. It has its moments but, for me, is just not there yet. I hope it gets there and I will wear the button. JMO

Running time is 85 minutes.

 

Updated On: 11/25/19 at 11:17 PM

[Susanswerphone]

Posted: 12/16/19 at 8:53am

So disappointing. I saw it last night and, it would seem, no work has been done since the previous poster's review.
There's a very personal and universally relevant story there. Unfortunately it gets lost in tangential writing and amateurish performances.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 12/16/19 at 10:00am

I was there last night as well, and I agree this was a real miss. 

I liked the concept of having these nameless people in a liminal space being forced to retell this story. And I also think the concept is tied into the subject matter in a way that's fairly intriguing. 

But the way it was executed was really excruciating. One of my least favorite playwriting tropes is the framing device of multiple narrators arguing over how to tell the story. It's always so cringey and trite. Plus we have to sit through several minutes of grown adults pretending to be children, which is another pet peeve of mine. 

There's a chunk in the middle that I enjoyed. Some of the internal scenes of the protagonist interacting with the people in his life were well-written and resonant. Then the final scene became incredibly preachy. And I agree that the acting was pretty subpar. I thought Leland Fowler (playing #2) was the only one who really seemed truthful and grounded, and even he seemed to have trouble with the framing device scenes.