The Other Place on B'way
The Other Place on B'way
The Other Place on B'way#1
Posted: 12/19/12 at 10:31pm
Has anyone else seen it yet? (Is there another thread I cannot recall for the Broadway engagement?)
I saw it today, after having missed its run at the Lortel. I thought Metcalf was excellent, but the play itself pretty much the definition of a "Lifetime movie". Emotionally manipulative without too much depth. My friend and I left thinking the play basically said nothing more than, "Yup, dementia is pretty tragic, isn't it?"
The design was adequate, as were the other three members of the cast. It's really the Metcalf Show, which is hardly a bad thing. I just wish it were a stronger vehicle for her.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
The Other Place on B'way#2
Posted: 12/20/12 at 8:29amThere was a thread on this play last week. The search feature will bring it up.
The Other Place on B'way#2
Posted: 12/20/12 at 9:55am
Kad, what I'm about to write is a response to what you wrote, but also to what I've seen a bunch of other have written. I disagree vehemently...but please don't take this personally.
I saw this play last night. And I hate that people describe it as 'Lifetime Movie.' In fact, I hate when that description is applied to other plays that contain female protagonists dealing with issues of health, or even grief. Both RABBIT HOLE and NEXT TO NORMAL have been described this way. Those theater pieces (and THE OTHER PLACE) deal seriously with their characters' issues...and those characters happen to be women. I truly feel that if the protagonists were men, no one would be reductive in calling these things 'Lifetime Movies.'
Now...we can argue whether any of these are successful or not. But I just bristle at the dismissive tone many take towards such stories.
SPOILERS ABOUND IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH
The manipulation is inherent in this piece because the show is not about 'Dementia is pretty tragic,' but more, at what point do we stop knowing ourselves. Where is the line when we can no longer trust our own memories. And the character of Juliana is not the only one dealing with that. Because Ian also cannot pinpoint the moment she turns. We are led to believe it's that moment at the conference in St. Thomas. Then we're led down a path where we're to believe she started to deteriorate months before that, when she claims to have been talking to her daughter. It isn't until the first scene at the other place, where we discover her descent has started at least 10 years before, does the scope of the tragedy come into focus. Even right up to the end, the truest memory of her daughter is confused with a feverdream of a buxom woman in a yellow bikini. The final reveal is devastating because we have to come to accept that perhaps her decline has been happening her entire life.
Yes...there are some writing issues I have with the piece. But I think the serious exploration of a person's complete inability to know themselves because of disease (or whatever reason) is not only worthy drama, but shouldn't be dismissed because the subject of the piece is a woman.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
The Other Place on B'way#3
Posted: 12/20/12 at 10:28am
Those theater pieces (and THE OTHER PLACE) deal seriously with their characters' issues...and those characters happen to be women. I truly feel that if the protagonists were men, no one would be reductive in calling these things 'Lifetime Movies.' "
Not true. The titles you provided happened to have dealt with women. (Incidentally, the husband in Rabbit Hole also lost a child.) It's not a question of man/woman, it's a question of approach to the subject, and the level of the writing.
I didn't think Next to Normal was Lifetime Movie level. I didn't think The Other Place was, either. I just found it a very bad play.
On the other hand, I liked The Outgoing Tide quite a bit, though I thought the writing was of Lifetime movie caliber. And that dealt with a man's dementia.
Updated On: 12/20/12 at 10:28 AM
The Other Place on B'way#4
Posted: 12/20/12 at 10:34am
Some pieces deal with their issues in deeper, more thoughtful, more interesting ways. I've certainly expressed that I thought Next To Normal dealt with bipolar issues on a superficial (Lifetime movie) level, and I still think it's a rather shallow piece about a significant idea.
On the other hand, I think The Other Placeis a very good play - deeper, quirkier, unexpected, and written for thinking adults.
Updated On: 12/20/12 at 10:34 AM
The Other Place on B'way#5
Posted: 12/20/12 at 10:43am
I think my issue is not the dissection of whether a piece goes deep enough...I think it's the inherent misogyny of such a phrase, even though I don't for a moment believe you or Kad are misogynists. It's rare, indeed, to reduce a play about some 'male-oriented' issue to 'it's just a Spike TV special!'
I had my problems with NEXT TO NORMAL, but I think it's a serious enough piece of theatre not to reduce it to a cheaply made television film.
Though, I am glad we agree on THE OTHER PLACE. I've now seen Metcalf in two different plays in two different countries this year. I'd call 2012 an unqualified success for that fact alone.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
The Other Place on B'way#6
Posted: 12/20/12 at 10:53am
"It's rare, indeed, to reduce a play about some 'male-oriented' issue to 'it's just a Spike TV special!' "
Well, I don't know about Spike TV specials, but both Lombardi and Magic/Bird were made-for-tv-movie level, actually, worse.
The Other Place on B'way#7
Posted: 12/20/12 at 10:59am
I didn't see either, so I can't really have an opinion as to quality.
But, I don't remember either being reduced to an MSG channel documentary affair. I could, however, be very wrong about that.
I guess, in the end, I don't really have a problem with the moniker 'movie of the week.' But when you add 'Lifetime' to it, I think it just takes on an ugly, anti-women tone...even though I know that isn't necessarily the poster's intent.
The Other Place on B'way#8
Posted: 12/20/12 at 11:06am
But those Lifetime movies are very specific animals, and using "Lifetime" as a specifying adjective is, I think, acceptable.
You know - something like "By Your Pupils You'll Be Taught: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story," although perhaps not a real Lifetime movie, fits the description perfectly - sensational, superficial, sentimental, and rather stupid.
The Other Place on B'way#9
Posted: 12/20/12 at 11:12am
Point taken.
But don't you think that when something as specific and unflinching as THE OTHER PLACE can be labeled as such, don't you think the phrase 'Lifetime' loses its power as a specifying adjective? It simply becomes shorthand for 'a play about a woman who is going through something.'
I just find it lazy when discussing serious attempts at storytelling in the theatre (even if those attempts fall short, as I feel NEXT TO NORMAL does in some ways).
The Other Place on B'way#10
Posted: 12/20/12 at 12:09pm
I think it means more than "a woman who is going through something", which I think newintown was getting at when he described them as "sensational, superficial, sentimental". They're designed to pull at heartstrings and loosen tearducts without much analysis and thought- with a hint of exploitation.
I thought Next to Normal, though not perfect, certainly had a lot more to say on the subject of mental illness, specifically in the treatment of it. I just didn't get that from The Other Place. I don't use the Lifetime descriptor often in regards to plays, but I just felt that this work, more than others I have seen, fit it.
There is inherent sexism in the "Lifetime movie" descriptor- but there isn't quite a male equivalent applicable to theatre. After Eight was right about the burgeoning "sports drama", I'd say, as being the closest thing- and both Magic/Bird and Lombardi had their fair share of people dismissing them because of that.
I also think it's worth asking why it is always the woman who must suffer in stories like these.
The Other Place on B'way#11
Posted: 12/20/12 at 12:29pm
I guess I just didn't see the piece as sensational, superficial or sentimental. I was very much taken with it. And very moved by it.
And the women always suffer because we homosexuals demand it. It's a nasty web we weave. (now I'm being reductive)
The Other Place on B'way#12
Posted: 12/20/12 at 12:31pmI think we can both agree that Laurie Metcalf is amazing.
The Other Place on B'way#13
Posted: 12/20/12 at 12:38pm
Wasn't she just??? I flew to London to see her in Long Day's... (as well as Imelda Staunton in Sweeney) and she was exquisite in that.
To see her go from Mary Tyrone to Juliana in just a couple of months is one of the great pleasures of 2012.
The Other Place on B'way#14
Posted: 12/20/12 at 12:47pmSufferin' dames have been the stuff of theatre since Medea, Jocasta, and Cassandra (if not earlier).
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