Check out some excerpts form Robert Zaller's review of WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA posted Saturday, April 17 on BroadStreetReview.com:
[ed. note: Red highlights added for emphasis...]
Lee Blessing’s new play, When We Go Upon the Sea, imagines George W. Bush in a place liberals would love to see him: awaiting trial as a war criminal in The Hague. Blessing has plenty of fun with “George,” as he calls him, but he points a darker finger at the rest of us, Americans and Europeans alike.
... the true interest of the play lies in the subtly entwined strands of shared history and guilt ... The larger question the play raises, however, is whose hands are clean enough to judge? ...
If Blessing’s mysterious hotel is to be regarded as the anteroom to judgment, then what it finally represents is the moral limbo we all inhabit, the impossibility of judgment itself. ...
Conan McCarty’s “George” is both a dead-on imitation and a satire of our 43rd president, although in the case of George W. Bush imitation and satire are almost indistinguishable. Peter Schmitz’s Piet, at once deadpan and provocative, makes a genuine character out of an enigmatic symbol, and Kim Carson is a businesslike temptress whose personal trauma is revealed only as a self-alienated, third-person soliloquy that makes her the most mysterious presence of all.
Between these slick European types, W.’s transparent foibles seem almost winning. He was, in retrospect, the perfect American dictator.
Director Paul Meshejian keeps the proceedings going as well as their static framework allows; set, lighting and sound all contribute to the ambivalent, subtly menacing mood the play evokes.
When We Go Upon the Sea is New York-bound after its Philadelphia run. It’s well worth seeing here, a play whose invitation to mock our last president lets none of us off the hook.
That's right! InterAct's production of WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA is moving to New York for an Off-Broadway run in June! The details are being ironed out now so check back soon for details. In the meantime, thanks to Robert Zaller at BroadStreetReview.com for breaking the story.
Links to more information about WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA:
Read Robert Zaller's Full Review
Read The Inquirer's Rave Review
Purchase Tickets
Play Description, Artist Bios & Performance Calendar
(including a talk-back with playwright Lee Blessing)
An Interview with Playwright Lee Blessing
Actor Conan McCarty on Playing George W. Bush
InterAct's 20/20 New Play Commission Program
No comments:
Post a Comment