Has anyone seen or heard anything about "A Small Fire"?

[HBBrock]

Posted: 1/1/11 at 10:32am

Seeing it tonight. Just curious.

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/1/11 at 10:33am

Bring a book.

[boydowncenter2]

Posted: 1/1/11 at 8:26pm

haven't heard anything about it. curious though.

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/1/11 at 8:30pm

One of the most boring and pointless evenings I've ever spent at the theatre.

[boydowncenter2]

Posted: 1/1/11 at 8:42pm

good. to. know.
curiousity cured.

[HBBrock]

Posted: 1/1/11 at 11:15pm

It's a good thing I didn't bring a book, because it was one of the best plays I've seen in a long time. Michele Pawk and Reed Birney were both phenominal.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 1/1/11 at 11:26pm

It's better than Other Desert Cities, but it's still not great I don't think.

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 1/1/11 at 11:51pm

I thought it was interesting. Not phenomenal, but I still enjoyed it.

[stevenycguy]

Posted: 1/3/11 at 12:34am

Had a very appreciative audience. Caught myself looking at my watch quite a few times in the beginning. However, the show started to grow on me later. Didn't quite understand what caused the "condition" to develop - not sure whether it was fully explained (I believe there was an oil accident/spill???) The last 10 minutes were very effective and poignant - raw emotion at its best. What a very powerful quote about what love is, spoken by the always excellent actor Reed Birney, towards the very end. I'm glad I saw the show. The actors deserved the very vocal applause they received. 1 hour 28 minutes, no intermission.

[joeyvalcort]

Posted: 1/3/11 at 1:14am

Saw it early in previews. Obviously it was a bit of a work in progress (not to say it needed tons of work, but with a few gentle tweaks and the playwright and director attending the previews -- I'm sure they were doing the work).

That said, I thought Michele Pawk was great for the second half of the show, when the role required her to be vulnerable. When she was playing the hard-as-tacks construction company owner, she was ACTING, damnit. But once her world started to get rocked by her condition (and fwiw it's a play by Adam Bock -- **** happens without explanation sometimes...), the actorly exterior started to come apart and she was pretty amazing.

Celia Keenan-Bolger had a thankless role and handled it admirably. Reed Birney silently carried the show, and Victor Williams needed more to do.

The set was pretty great, lighting a little too too, and the sound not necessarily memorable, but that's not a bad thing.

I've recommended it to a few friends, and all but one have thoroughly enjoyed it.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/4/11 at 2:26pm

SPOILERS

I saw it the other night.

The production values - as always at Playwrights - were great. Lighting was beautiful. The set was interesting and attractive. I loved the sound design. I want to hear more of that music.

I don't know how I feel about the show. I liked the concept of it. Like, the idea of this women losing her senses, and the only thing she needs to regain them is love? At least that's what I got from it.

It was strange that they showed the other family members having "heightened" abilities, but never touched on that. The show should have been two acts.

The acting was pretty great all around. The two "supporting" parts were pretty thankless, and dare I say, pointless? Like having the supporting male character talking about his ex-lover dying of AIDs. Why?

I actually thought that most of the play was pretty pointless. I mean, the concept was great, but not a lot was actually said. The daughter just whined that she can't love her mother, the Husband just awkwardly laughed and was trying to deal with it, and the Mother just kind of flat-lined.

I guess, to sum it up, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I just wish there had been MORE to attach to.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/4/11 at 3:14pm

I looked at it as an AIDS parable, like PRELUDE TO A KISS.