(DE-construct) your notion of theatrical realism

(DE-construct) your notion of theatrical realism with Theatre Reconstruction Ensemble's production of

SET IN THE LIVING ROOM OF A SMALL TOWN AMERICAN PLAY

Last night, I got one of the only ticktes available to see SET IN THE LIVING ROOM... at the Soho Rep's Walkerspace. My mind was blown by the precision and specificity of this performance. Kudos to TRE's playwright-in-residence, Jaclyn Backhaus, for her ability to create a play where it evolves seemlessly from a "first read-through rehearsal" into a "realistic play of the 21st century." I also want to commend John Kurzynowski (TRE's artistic director) for creating an ACCESSIBLE as well as ENGAGING experimental theatre show. If only the show were runnning a couple more weeks, I would see it again to pick up pieces that I still have lingering questions about. I applaud Kurzynowski for keeping the action moving even if the stage directions were being read aloud and the actors were instensely staring at each other. The play is packed with layers upon layers of symbolism, like an onion, each layer exposes another layer that leaves me questioning something else about the themes and the production.

One sentence synoposis: I believe the play is about... a theatre company putting up a classic American play, until the lines get blurred and the actors become the characters and the play becomes the audience's reality.

The mission of the play:
Direct quote from playbill, "By examining different methods of acting developed in that era (30s, 40s, 50s), various works written for and about the American theater, and our own struggle to create and present a new 'classic American drama,' we seek to create a unique original process of building a theatrical event that expresses our ensemble's relatiosnhip to 'American realsim' as an abstract notion inherent in what we now consider the American stage, as presented by a group of men struggling to identify with such canonical methods and break through them in order to create new forms of theatricality."


Moments I wish were more developed:

1. I wish the play developed Penny's relationship to her mother. The majority of the time, the play centers around the father/son dynamic leaving Penny's mystery absence from performing onstage a bit unclear.

2. I wish the father's dramatic climax scene was kept in the same vein as the rest of the show.  Throughout the play, the actors seemed to specifically choose a counter action to what the stage manager reads, to layer the performance. But at this climatic point in the play, we (the audience) is forced to follow Frank's (the father)  emotional journey, which seemed like a complete stretch for this young actor to play, like he was grasping for tears that never exsisted for him.

I look foward to TRE's project this fall 2013, SALESMEN: A MEDITATION ON MASCULINITY AND THE AMERICAN REAL!

http://www.reconstructionensemble.org/


On a different note: Go see WOMEN OF WILL if you are a Shakespeare buff and a feminist! It will knock your socks off! There are a bunch of discounted tickets available under 20 bucks! Tina Packer is a legend who shouldn't be missed!