Satellites - Review

[senortenor]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 5:10pm

I just got back from Satellites at the Public Theater. The show is a 1 hr., 40 min. show without an intermission. What attracted me to the show was Sandra Oh, who I have loved since Under the Tuscan Sun, and she didn't disappoint. Her acting is superb, and she plays a role that is a bit more frantic than her role on Grey's Anatomy (Dr. Cristina Yang), and that is seemingly possible.

The show is about themes of racism, some which enter with a crash, like the rock thrown into the home of the couple in the play (Nina and Miles), others which enter more gradually or leave a question as to whether or not a certain action really could be perceived as being racist or just a matter of simple, unadulterated perception. While this tries to be the overall message of the play, I didn't feel that it was strongly focused enough for me to leave having gained or fully understood the specific lesson of the play.

Yet, I guess what Satellites is trying to do is to just show one tale of how one family deals with certain pressing situations. It notes in the program that the family is a certain moral structure and the idea of a "family play" is that it observes the family structure as representing an entire world much greater than that family. And, in turn, that is what each and every one of us does in our own lives as we carve out our own individual paths from our familial upbringing. Nina and Miles lack certain connections in their upbringing, and this perhaps explains some of the challenges which arise and are explained in the play.

I also have to mention that I thought the sets were really cleverly conceived to create a believable depth to Nina and Miles' house. That was one of the main highlights to me. I noticed that as everyone left the theater, most people walked by the stage to see it up close.

I would give this show 3 out of 5 stars.

Updated On: 6/4/06 at 05:10 PM