The Arc: A Trilogy of New Jewish Plays – Soho Theatre
Aug 19, 2023 23:44:24 GMT
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Post by Steve on Aug 19, 2023 23:44:24 GMT
Saw this tonight and LOVED it.
It's three short plays, running at 65 minutes straight through.
The plays touch on Jewish concerns and themes, but also universal ones.
Acting stalwarts, Adrian Schiller, Nigel Planer and Dorothea Myer-Bennett are in this, and they are terrific.
Lesser known actors, Dan Wolff, Sam Thorpe-Spinks and Abigail Weinstock are in this, and they also are terrific.
As someone who likes to feel theatre first, then think about it second, I found the third play, "Death," by Ryan Craig, was the one that moved (and amused) me most, as the other two, "Birth" and to a lesser extent, "Marriage," focus more on thinking than feeling.
Still, all the plays are funny, and "Death" is moving, as well.
Some spoilers follow. . .
The first play, "Birth" is mega-metaphor territory. It features a plaintive, over-sensitive Dorothea Myer-Bennett (there's never been a play I've seen her in that she didn't make funnier) turning up to whinge at the Doctor who delivered her 50 years earlier, a cold pragmatic Nigel Planer who may have induced her 3 weeks early so he could go on holiday. . .
The set up is funny, and some of the jokes land, but Myer-Bennett exits the story too early, and the clever denouement, involving solving a crossword, can't make up for the feeling of anticlimax you get when she disappears from the story.
If you want to know my thoughts about the metaphors in this play, click here:
So, 3 stars from me for "Birth."
In the second play, Nigel Planer turns up as God-frey, and he appears to have the power to turn a couple's date into a Constellations style series of constantly restarting attempted dates. He's pro-procreation, you see, and this couple need help. . .
Luckily, that's where the metaphors end and the comedy begins cos Planer plays the part of Godfrey like a bemused nosy parker, peering over at them from another table, eye-rolling especially at the disastrous dating skills of Sam Thorpe-Spinks's nervy Adrian. Adrian is the kind of character who blurts out things, such as that his RSI in his hand is the product of masturbating, and Thorpe-Spinks is good at blundering comically yet naturalistically. Given that he is dating the most refined and intelligent woman, in Abigail Weinstock's Eva, you can't help but laugh.
And on it goes, a series of funny, relived encounters that is a worthy tribute to the original Constellations. Funnily enough, the MVP of the scenes, for me, was Myer-Bennett's waitress, who must serve customers she patently doesn't respect lol. 3 and a half stars from me.
It's the third play, "Death," though, that blew me away and made the evening worthwhile.
Dan Wolff is magnificent as a man, Adam, who can't get his head round "death" (he can't stand his Nana planning her own funeral and he's broken up by the death of his daughter's hamster). His clinically realistic father, Adrian Schiller's Dan, compassionately tries to talk some common sense into his emotional son. . .
This play really hit for me because it's all about emotions, and Wolff, in poignant pithy bafflement, really connects to: the potential loss of custody of his daughter, his feelings about her mother, the death of his daughter's hamster and how that relates to her absence, his disgust at his healthy grandmother preparing for death, his bafflement at the pragmatism of his father and sister (Weinstock again), and basically his own feeling about being unmoored from everything. It's a really wonderful performance and he (too hot) and Schiller (too cold) share the stage beautifully together, creating a sense of genuine connection.
Because Wolff is, by and large, totally alone in his feelings, his interactions with, and attitudes to, his family are very funny, and also very moving.
This last play gets 4 and a half stars from me. Overall, I'd give the evening 4 stars.
It's three short plays, running at 65 minutes straight through.
The plays touch on Jewish concerns and themes, but also universal ones.
Acting stalwarts, Adrian Schiller, Nigel Planer and Dorothea Myer-Bennett are in this, and they are terrific.
Lesser known actors, Dan Wolff, Sam Thorpe-Spinks and Abigail Weinstock are in this, and they also are terrific.
As someone who likes to feel theatre first, then think about it second, I found the third play, "Death," by Ryan Craig, was the one that moved (and amused) me most, as the other two, "Birth" and to a lesser extent, "Marriage," focus more on thinking than feeling.
Still, all the plays are funny, and "Death" is moving, as well.
Some spoilers follow. . .
The first play, "Birth" is mega-metaphor territory. It features a plaintive, over-sensitive Dorothea Myer-Bennett (there's never been a play I've seen her in that she didn't make funnier) turning up to whinge at the Doctor who delivered her 50 years earlier, a cold pragmatic Nigel Planer who may have induced her 3 weeks early so he could go on holiday. . .
The set up is funny, and some of the jokes land, but Myer-Bennett exits the story too early, and the clever denouement, involving solving a crossword, can't make up for the feeling of anticlimax you get when she disappears from the story.
If you want to know my thoughts about the metaphors in this play, click here:
The title of the three plays is "The Arc," which refers to the story arc of our lives, from birth to marriage to death, the three play titles.
But the title also invokes the story of Noah's Ark: so, and I may well be wrong, I'd guess the answer to the unresolved crossword at the end is "Flood," and that that assault on humanity, well, on everybody but Noah and his family, is the "trauma" that Myer-Bennett feels, when God (Nigel Planer, see the next play also) brought her into the world.
I imagine her character (who feels "unfinished") represents the confusion of Jews having their identity defined by traumatic stories, such as the "Flood." Aside from Jewishness, absolutely everybody feels some confusion as to why we are all here, at some time or another, so it's a universal story too, and congrats for creating a short piece that attempts to go so deep, but for me, such Tom Stoppard style cleverness should come after the story makes you feel something.
But the title also invokes the story of Noah's Ark: so, and I may well be wrong, I'd guess the answer to the unresolved crossword at the end is "Flood," and that that assault on humanity, well, on everybody but Noah and his family, is the "trauma" that Myer-Bennett feels, when God (Nigel Planer, see the next play also) brought her into the world.
I imagine her character (who feels "unfinished") represents the confusion of Jews having their identity defined by traumatic stories, such as the "Flood." Aside from Jewishness, absolutely everybody feels some confusion as to why we are all here, at some time or another, so it's a universal story too, and congrats for creating a short piece that attempts to go so deep, but for me, such Tom Stoppard style cleverness should come after the story makes you feel something.
So, 3 stars from me for "Birth."
In the second play, Nigel Planer turns up as God-frey, and he appears to have the power to turn a couple's date into a Constellations style series of constantly restarting attempted dates. He's pro-procreation, you see, and this couple need help. . .
Luckily, that's where the metaphors end and the comedy begins cos Planer plays the part of Godfrey like a bemused nosy parker, peering over at them from another table, eye-rolling especially at the disastrous dating skills of Sam Thorpe-Spinks's nervy Adrian. Adrian is the kind of character who blurts out things, such as that his RSI in his hand is the product of masturbating, and Thorpe-Spinks is good at blundering comically yet naturalistically. Given that he is dating the most refined and intelligent woman, in Abigail Weinstock's Eva, you can't help but laugh.
And on it goes, a series of funny, relived encounters that is a worthy tribute to the original Constellations. Funnily enough, the MVP of the scenes, for me, was Myer-Bennett's waitress, who must serve customers she patently doesn't respect lol. 3 and a half stars from me.
It's the third play, "Death," though, that blew me away and made the evening worthwhile.
Dan Wolff is magnificent as a man, Adam, who can't get his head round "death" (he can't stand his Nana planning her own funeral and he's broken up by the death of his daughter's hamster). His clinically realistic father, Adrian Schiller's Dan, compassionately tries to talk some common sense into his emotional son. . .
This play really hit for me because it's all about emotions, and Wolff, in poignant pithy bafflement, really connects to: the potential loss of custody of his daughter, his feelings about her mother, the death of his daughter's hamster and how that relates to her absence, his disgust at his healthy grandmother preparing for death, his bafflement at the pragmatism of his father and sister (Weinstock again), and basically his own feeling about being unmoored from everything. It's a really wonderful performance and he (too hot) and Schiller (too cold) share the stage beautifully together, creating a sense of genuine connection.
Because Wolff is, by and large, totally alone in his feelings, his interactions with, and attitudes to, his family are very funny, and also very moving.
This last play gets 4 and a half stars from me. Overall, I'd give the evening 4 stars.
