Play Reviews

I've seen 3 plays recently and discussed none of them - so here they are (what can I say, it's December, somehow we always go out far more in December...)

Speed the Plow
Written by Mamet twenty or so years ago, the text stands up reasonably well, being the standard art vs commerce in Hollywood with sub themes of eco disaster and economic/emotional bankruptcy. My problem with it is that the life changing book that is described, just sounds like gibberish. There are life changing books out there, but the one about radioactivity and decay read out loud in the play is not one of them!

One of my main observations about it, is actually about Broadway in general - there is this trend in Broadway to get famous names to sell tix. Many of those famous names don't come from Broadway, but from film and tv. The problem for is that theatrical acting and film/tv acting are actually very different skill sets. I see it time and again, the film/tv star just doesn't have the stamina for the 8 shows a week. There's no cut, let's take a break, no saving it from the close up, and also, you've done it once, perfectly, great. Now do it again, 8 times this week, and next, and for the next 6 months.

Speed the Plow is a 3 hander. Two actors were from tv - Jeremy Piven, who we love in Entourage, and Elizabeth Moss from Madmen. I know Mamet is like watching the Olympics, first you think, they have to remember all those words? in the right order? and cut across and interrupt each other with timing and act as well? But Elizabeth Moss definitely struggled with it. She was the weakest of the three. The one who walked in and chewed up all the scenery, was the one with the most Broadway experience - Raul Espraza. He made that show work, he was just amazing in his rage and greed and lust and his just wanting, wanting, wanting it. Not art, fuck art, wanting success and money and power. He was dazzling in his venality.

And Mamet would have been please with us, because afterwards we talked about life changing books and how art mattered in our lives...

2. Shrek

Well, this is a different world from Speed the Plow. No cynicism here! this is a lush children's musical, full of optimism and embracing our inner freak and how being beautiful doesn't necessarily mean being pretty. The songs are serviceable, the script had a few lovely call outs to previous Broadway shows (a hint of chorus line here, of Gypsy there) which I really appreciate and could have done with more of.

My problem is that like the Disney productions, somehow the cartoon versions are more sly and sophisticated. The musicals are much simpler, though there is no real reason for that to happen, the stories loose some of their complexity. Shrek is less imposing here (he's life size) the donkey is less scintillating. Lord Farquar, played by Christopher Seiber, steals every scene he's in, and gives it all he's got. He's a great villain! the stage lights up when he's on. But Shrek isn't menacing enough, he's softness is all there to see, and he's not physically imposing enough and so he doesn't quite work. The love scene/fart song where he and Fiona fall in love actually works very well. The kids laugh and laugh when the characters fart and burp, but you can see how the connection is formed. I actually believed the love story. But I went out humming Gypsy and talking about the costumes (amazing!) rather than the story. A good one for the kids, but that's about it...

3. And finally, we went and saw Black Watch, which is an off Broadway show, playing in St Anne's warehouse theatre in Brooklyn. I'll review that later, but it's very adult, and absolutely fantastic. All you could want from art and theatre. We go with a few soldiers from the Scottish Black Watch brigade to Iraq and see what happens... But more of that later.