This didn't really work for me. I thought Moretz was good, and I've always loved Lili Taylor and was happy to see her perform live, but I found the overall piece a bit blah. There were some timeline issues that seemed to be arranged for dramatic effect, but pulled me out of the piece. I'll spoiler it in detail at the end, so it's easier for people to find and skip.
I would say that if anyone goes to this, I'd only sit from row G back. I was in Row C, and there is a table at almost the lip of the stage, and the rest of the set is two rows of tables set further back, so when people are laying on or sitting on those tables further back, the table at the very front of the stage is either blocking them or restricting visibility from the action. So, better to be above all the tables for good eyelines.
I didn't mind the staging, which is mainly five tables and assorted chairs in a glossy black box, with the back panel of the stage often used as a dramatic lighting element.
In a talkback after the show, the writer said the narrative was taken specifically from events at Columbine, although this play isn't really about Columbine. It is about how narrative is shaped when things like this happen, and how people need different narratives to be able to move on... that sounded interesting in the talkback, but that was more direct than the show.
A lot of people who stayed for the talkback seemed to not have any of the issues I am about to unspool, so your mileage may vary, as well.
Most of my issue was with the structure and timeline, which I will SPOILER now to end this post...
This is the SPOILER:
This is about a school shooting that occurs in, as you might guess, a school library. Without giving away the narrative thrust of the story, a police report questioning the events during the shooting is being assembled throughout the show. But, while this report is being assembled, and is not finished... one of the characters not only writes a book about her daughter who was killed in the library, it is climbing the bestseller charts on Amazon (now, if you factor in grief, then writing a book, then the editing, publishing, and marketing... how long would that take? Apparently, less time than it takes to finish a police report in the world of this show). There is also a fund being paid out to victim's families, which also factors into the story. Even these people are getting their money before this police report is completed. And the logic of the story does make these things existing in the same linear time, it's not like it is jumping all around and I didn't follow it. The insurance company meetings seem to go with things as they are experienced in advance of the finished police report. All of this delay is only to serve the structure of the play, which ends dramatically with the findings of the police report. It might seem silly, but this weird little thing pulled me out of the show. Then, more is revealed about the case that made me wonder why it took so long, or would have been so crucial, to assemble such a detailed investigative report anyway. To be fair, I was a former newspaper reporter, that worked on criminal justice issues and trials, but even so... by setting so many things in the future, months or years after a police report would be compiled, it sort of pulled me out of there being any reality here. And if it is about broad themes and narrative and how people need to cling to them in difficult times, this can all be told without future events, things happening on a timeline, and a linear structure that makes time a relevant factor in the story. He also said the show would be frozen soon, so this seems like a pretty big structural element, so I have to imagine it isn't going anywhere.
Updated On: 4/1/14 at 11:45 PM
