So What IS The Most Boring Play?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:16am

I'm tempted to say Stoppard's ROCK N' ROLL deserves a spot up there.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:18am

From what I'VE seen, probably AFTER MISS JULIE and ARCADIA. I really wanted to like ARCADIA, but it just wasn't for me.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:22am

I find Stoppard to be insufferable for the most part. I have no doubt he reads his plays and beats off to them but I found ARCADIA to be enjoyable. I dont sit down and watch it everyday but I'm glad I saw it.

Updated On: 6/15/12 at 01:22 AM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:27am

The most boring play I ever saw was called Detective Story, and it was basically, I guess, one of the first ever "precinct dramas." It was just a play that took place in the middle of a police office with very few laughs, cops coming and going and nothing interesting happening until close to the very end when someone finally fired a gun and the audience woke up.

Updated On: 6/15/12 at 01:27 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:29am

Was it onstage or someone in the audience?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:29am

Outof the Stoppard plays I'm familiar with, I've liked them all (Arcadia probably being at the top, but also Rosencrantz aand Guildenstern, Dogg's Hamlet, The Real Thing, Jumpers and Travesties--I think that's it) except Rock 'n' Roll, which I found exceedingly, well, boring. It probably didn't help that I saw an amateur group do it, so it's hard to say if it was the most boring production, or play, or both... The *most* boring? Not sure, but...

[Idiot]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:29am

That thing at the Taper a couple of years ago. And honestly, that's almost all I remember about it.

[jv92]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:34am

I feel very badly saying this because Horton Foote is dead, and the play I'm mentioning was his last play produced on Broadway, but...

DIVIDING THE ESTATE was a miserable piece of sh*t. It was a rambling elderly relative of a play. And I know people loved it. I just didn't "get" it.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:35am

lol, Jordan. It was onstage. It was funny too because I kept thinking during the intermission that the only way the play could be saved would be if someone pulled out a gun and shot someone.

[NJBway]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:44am

an ideal husband by oscar wilde has some good monologues but i find it quite a bore & im a oscar wilde fan

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:47am

I think THE PHILANTHROPIST deserves special mention here, as well.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 1:48am

I think all of
(pause) Pinter's Plays are deathly
(pause) boring.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 2:00am

I thought Golda's Balcony was pretty boring.

[keithp]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 2:16am

CurtainPullDowner - given the number of plays Pinter wrote you must be a special kind of masochist to put yourself through the torture of seeing all of them once you realised he was a playwright who was going to bore you.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 6:43am

I try to forget the boring ones so as not to relive the pain of having sat through them, but as far as boredom is concerned, Arcadia is one play that just won't let itself be forgotten. Travesties was a horror as well, and there was a champion bore called Home, which goes far back. Also Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, Racing Demon... And Pinter, of course. Hey, and don't forget this year's Once. That broke the borometer barometer.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 10:30am

I have never seen a production of On Golden Pond I did not get bored during. I've seen the movie many times, which may make the stage version seem not as thrilling or new.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 10:35am

Too many to even begin thinking about it; however, several of the plays mentioned above can be pretty entertaining with the right cast and director. One should never confuse a bad production with a bad play.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 10:39am

Did no one else sit through Ashes to Ashes by Pinter starring...was it Lindsay Crouse and David Strathairn? Holy Sweet Wounded Christ...it was one of those times in the theatre where I thought, 'Exactly what would happen if I stood up and screamed "STOP! STOP!! I CANNOT TAKE ANOTHER GODDMAN SECOND OF THIS!!!!"'

[defyinggravity2]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 10:52am

I agree with lj889, ARCADIA was terribly boring. Also, I found THE COLUMNIST to be a cure for insomnia.

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 11:09am

Roundabouts Mrs. Warren's Profession from a few years ago was pretty horrid. The majority of people around me were falling asleep and I've never seen so many people leave at intermission before.
Updated On: 6/15/12 at 11:09 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 11:10am

I saw an excruciating production of Measure for Measure two years ago. They cut all the comedic elements out of it.

[Calvin]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 11:14am

The Philanthropist was probably the most excruciating night I've ever had at a straight play on Broadway.

But I also had an incredibly difficult time maintaining interest in The Faith Healer, outside of Ian McDiarmid's monologue. And I'm generally a huge fan of Friel.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 11:17am

Has anyone seen a production of Titus Andronicus?

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 11:23am

ARCADIA is one of the most bracingly wonderful plays I ever had the joy to sit through. I saw it in London back in '95 with Dearbhla Molloy and an unbelievably hot Alexander Hanson.

[Playbilly]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 11:34am

The Piano Lesson.