Margo on Wrecks, Rachel Corrie & Emergence-see!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:17pm

New York is flush with solo plays at the moment. Here's my take on a few:


WRECKS (The Public Theater)

Neil LaBute has become one of our most interesting and prolific playwrights over the last few years. His work, which often contains some finely etched character portaits, has been notable mainly for its shock value in his explorations of the darker aspects of the human soul and psyche. His latest, WRECKS, currently playing at The Public Theater is a solo piece which is in many ways typical of LaBute's oevre -- especially in that it's a psychological examination of contemporary morality complete with a surprise ending -- but, this brief (75 minutes), rather meandering work is somewhat short on substance and ultimately rings hollow.

Set in a funeral home, a recently bereaved widower (played with unadorned simplicity and compelling pathos by Ed Harris) reminisces about his wife and their life together. In a manner that's part wistful, part confessional, he retraces the steps of his past with her, with all of its highs and lows in a series of frank and unfettered anecdotes that he relates compulsively, in the same manner that he smokes cigarette after cigarette -- and with the same transitory effect. They lead nowhere. But, there's an anxious sense that he needs to tell us these memories. Perhaps he's trying to make sense of his past, or he needs to unburden himself somehow. Perhaps, he's seeking some sort of absolution or salvation in his confessions. It's unclear.

That is until the play's final minutes when he admits to a secret that both he and his wife had kept from one another until her final moments on her deathbed. In typical LaBute fashion it's a twist with moral implications that paint all that has been said before in different light. The only problem is that the surprise ending was not only somewhat predictable (I won't reveal it here, but the play's title is a hint), but also felt somewhat unearned by what preceded it. The previous sixty minutes of rambling exposition simply didn't justify such an admittedly provocative pay off. WRECKS is basically a twist in search of a play, and even with a persuasive, well-modulated performance from Harris, the evening nevertheless ultimately is rather shallow.

https://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/wrecks.htm



MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE (Minetta Lane Theater)

Rachel Corrie was an idealistic 23 year old American woman who in 2003, who in the course of working in the Gaza Strip for the International Solidarity Movement was killed by an Israeli bulldozer. Her diaries and emails to her family have been edited and pulled together into the play MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE by Katharine Viner and the actor Alan Rickman. The play, which ran to acclaim in London two years ago, became the subject of some controversy last year when New York Theatre Workshop decided to postpone a production of it. It's now playing at the Minetta Lane Off-Broadway and now that the smoke has cleared, it's now possible to see what all the fuss was about. As it turns out -- not much.

While it's clear that Corrie was a very bright young woman and quite passionate about her political beliefs, basing an entire play solely on her not fully formed opinions regarding such complex issues as Palestinian liberation and the Israeli-Arab conflict makes for a somewhat limited experience. Without even getting into the actual political beliefs expressed or the fact that depending on one's political perspective, some see Corrie as naive or a pawn of Palestinians sympathizers while others see her as a heroine and a martyr, as a work of political theatre, it's lacking in focus and substance. However, it does succeed on some levels as a portrait of youthful idealism and universal empathy.

While the inclusion of some of her diary entries from her time at home in Olympia, Washington prior leaving from the Middle East are somewhat bland and predictable (and listlessly staged by Rickman), the emails home that make up the latter part of the play where she relates the details of her day to day attemps at political activism and where we see her trying to make sense of the volatile and dangerous situation in Gaza are at times fairly interesting.

The greater problem with the production, though, is that the format of having a solo actress (Megan Dobbs) portray Corrie as she is sitting at a keyboard reciting aloud the emails relating the events of her day as she writes them is inherently undramatic. Nothing is dramatized, only spoken of after the fact. The set (by Hildegard Bechtler) which consists a bombed out building surrounded with rubble serves no purpose other than as mood-setting window dressing since Corrie rarely does anything other than sit in her chair and type.

One gets the sense that Rickman and Viner saw Corrie's story as a sort of modern day equivalent of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, another tale of a young innocent who becomes a victim in the midst of savage political turmoil. Whether that's a fair comparison or not, the fact is that when Anne Frank's diaries were adapted to the stage and to film, the actions in them were dramatized with a full cast of actors playing all characters she wrote about, which made the story all the more powerful to audiences around the world. Had the play consisted only of little Anne sitting in the corner of the attic alone, writing in her diary and narrating the passages as she wrote, it likely would have been as static an experience as MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE is much of the time.

The story of Rachel Corrie is, to be sure, potentially quite a fascinating one (regardless of what thinks of her politics or her work on behalf of the Palestinians), but the creators of this play have failed to bring it fully and compellingly to life.

https://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/my_name_is_rachel_corrie.htm


EMERGENCE-SEE! (The Public Theater)

Seeing as there is no shortage of solo plays in New York these days and I must say I faced the prospect of attending yet another one, EMERGENCE-SEE!, written and performed by Daniel Beaty, with no small measure of trepidation. Now, while this piece doesn't break any particularly new ground in this well-trodden form, and its use of the poetry slam (Beaty was a former grand champion at the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe) as a narrative trope seemed fresher last season when Sarah Jones used it as the basis of her acclaimed BRIDGE & TUNNEL, I nevertheless found myself won over by the sheer energy and charisma that ceaselessly emanates from the gifted and dazzling Mr. Beaty's performance.

The basic plot consists of the reactions many members of the New York community has when an ancient slaveship suddenly rises out of the Hudson in modern day Manhattan and parks itself next to the Statue of Liberty. Over the course of 80 minutes, Mr. Beaty conjures over 40 different from characters, some of whom are simply passersby who give their impressions of such a shocking event, but the core of the story deals with two African-American brothers, Rodney, who's on his way to the finals of a poetry competition, his brother Freddie, who's gay and looking for love, and their father Reginald, a classics professor, who in the course of pursuing his middle class ideals, felt the need to put his cultural past and ties to the black community on the back burner -- values which he tried to pass onto his children (in vain). As the story progresses, Rodney and Freddie learn that, incredibly, their father has somehow jumped onto the slaveship, drawn to it by some unexplained force (which we learn is some mystical African king), and the bulk of the play concerns the sons' efforts to retrieve their father in time for Rodney to make his poetry competition.

It's a fantastical tale to be sure, but what it has to say about the need to connect with the past (here in the guise of the ghosts of Reginald's anncestors), as well as with the realities present (by Reginald overcoming his estrangement with his family and his community), is not only valid, but often uplifting. In addition the Beaty's talents as a mimic -- employed to give life to a whole gamut of disparate characters including church ladies, a Jamaican immigrant, a homeless man, a little girl with AIDS, a transgendered prostitute, and several of Rodney's competitors at the poetry slam --, he also possesses a rich and resonant baritone voice which he uses to fine effect throughout the evening.

While, nothing in EMERGENCE-SEE is anything that hasn't been seen before (several of his characters have become overly familiar stock "types" used in many solo shows through the years) and the overall scope of the narrative could use more than a little focusing, editing and refining, Beaty is such a vibrant and electric presence that he overcomes most of the deficiencies in the writing. Special mention must go to Kenny Leon's well-paced direction, Beowulf Boritt's rustic yet ultramodern multi-level set which evokes a shipwreck, Michael Chybowsky's effective lighting and Drew Levy's finely textured sound design which properly sets the mood throughout the evening. So, even if you've grown somewhat fatigued of the entire solo performer genre, nevertheless make your way down to the Public Theater to check out this entertaining show by the dynamic and dexterous Mr. Beaty. He's a real talent to watch.

https://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/emergencesee.htm


http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 03:17 PM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:38pm

Thanks for the reviews Margo. I'm a really big fan of Neil LaBute, although some of his newer stuff hasn't grabbed me quite as much. Although, I did like "Fat Pig." It seems like he's churning out play after play. Doesn't he have a new play opening some other time this season?

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:40pm

Thanks for the thorough reviews, Margo. I somehow had predicted that My Name Is Rachel Corrie would become more famous for being famous than for its substance. In his review, Brantley actually mentioned that it was never as controversial in London as it is in New York due to the issue with the New York Theater Workshop. I was not aware that it consisted of the character saying out loud the words as she writes them, it sounds like a dull and uninspired staging.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:41pm

Wrecks....hehe

[Magdalene]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:44pm

Thanks, once again, for your insightful reviews. They are always a pleasure to read!

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:57pm

I notice before when you really didn't like a show you said that you posted it on another site.

Do you ever post reviews on here of shows that you think are awful or do you think the Board is so full of actors that you pull your punches?

If you pull your punches here, what is the other site?

[Liverpool]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:01pm

I love LaBute, but everything I've read about wrecks, makes it sound a bit of a mess, which makes me sad.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:25pm

LaBute has a new play for MCC "In A Dark House" that opens at the Lortel in the Spring. I think that'll make three consecutive seasons where he's opened two new plays in one year, which is insanely prolific -- perhaps too much so. He's a talented writer and he might benefit from taking a little more time with each new work, rather than churning them out at such a rapid pace that perhaps quality suffers (I didn't care for his last play, "Some Girls" either).

And there were one or two occasions when I didn't post a particularly negative review here and simply left them on my blog, but I haven't done that in some time. While I take no joy in writing negative things about shows or individuals -- in part because I've come to realize that very often my opinions do, in fact, make their way to the actors/writers/directors I'm writing about -- nevertheless, since I never write anything to intentionally be malicious or take cheap shots at anyone, I figure that as long as I'm being fair and honest and even-handed, I shouldn't shy away from expressing any opinion here.

And with ticket prices being so outrageous, I think that all of us in this little community who post here serve a function to not only recommend a good show that perhaps has been overlooked, but also to warn each other when a given production just isn't up to snuff and that those of us who don't have unlimited financial resources can better spend our money elsewhere.

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 04:25 PM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:47pm

Thank you for a quick and very complete answer, Margo!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:53pm

Very true Margo. I just bought Some Girl(s) and I'm having a hard time getting into it. After reading a couple of his other plays, it's hard to get back into his sporactic dialogue. It seems every sentence is "I...um..mean that - no wait - um..." kind of thing.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 8:51pm

Thanks as always Margo. I really enjoyed Emergence-See, but it was the first solo show I ever saw, so it was interesting to read about how it's good but doesn't progress the form.

I couldn't agree more about Beatty. Again, first time seeing a solo show but he amazed me. It stood out to me that he did the whole thing without taking even a sip of water, with no props, and with no change of costume. Is this something that is rare in solo shows or more common than I think?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 9:05pm

I've seen dozens of solo shows an it's actually rare for someone to pause for a drink of water or change a costume or use props (though it happens occasionally). They want to weave a spell over an audience and usually don't take any kind of break that might remind people that they're watching a performer playing characters. Cups of water etc.... are more common with stand comedy type performers than with solo theatre artists.

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 9:47pm

I totally agree with your assessment of "Rachel Corrie" Margo.

There was just no "there there".