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Saturday, March 03, 2007

Dying City

Okay, to me, this play is about as imperceptible as the minute (but constant) rotation of the set. Just as the set is minimal (with more items actually placed off-stage in packing boxes than the couch and the television that actually sitting there), Christopher Shinn's script enjoys beating around the bush (or at times beating on Bush); it would be an understatement to say I didn't enjoy this production. Pablo Schrieber is still playing Pablo Schrieber -- at least in Mr. Marmelade, he wasn't emoting such seriousness, and at least in Manuscript and HBO's The Wire, it served him well. But his weaknesses show here: he's playing two twin brothers (the excuses to get him off-stage to change are pretty weak), and his rendition of both is pretty much the same (although everybody knows gay actors and bitter soldiers are identical). Rebecca Brooksher gets one moment of catharsis that stretches on too long, and she doesn't seem to have changed between the 2004 and 2005 scenes of this play . . . Sorry. Thumbs down from me.

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Also blogged by: [David] [Patrick] [Christopher]

1 comment:

Cameron Kelsall said...

Couldn't agree more, especially regarding Schreiber. Let's see what the reviews are like tonight.