When the truth lands on their shoulders like an expectant vulture, they are horrified, but their real estate agent (Nia Medina), a spin doctor of the first water, manages to utilize the lovers’ dreamy optimism and vagueness to shoehorn them into a preposterous decision. This is not a new theme or a new idea, but Long’s deadpan writing is crisp and the actors buy into every absurdity, which allows them to sell the show as efficiently as the real estate agent sells the monstrosity she’s selling.
The remaining four shows present intermittent pleasures, but none of them pack much of a wallop. Two of them – Cry on Cue (Patrick Link) and A Walk in the Ocean (Mark Harvey Levine) – seem to be principally character studies. In the former, Liz (Amal Saade), a fabulously successful photographer, has been commissioned to create a book populated with pictures of crying men. She recruits her ex-boyfriend Adam (Ludwig), an unemployed actor, to cry. They have some dialogue, and she takes his picture. If there was a larger point, it escaped me. The actors, particularly Ludwig, are very good, though.
In A Walk in the Ocean, Bill (Long) takes Karen (Elizabeth Heir) for a walk into the middle of the Ocean, to facilitate her announcement that she intends to end their relationship. No, this isn’t a spinoff of The Sopranos – for some reason they both have the ability to walk on water. I got the sense that the ocean is a metaphor for something, but I’ll be damned if I could figure out what. The acting is good, though – and in the instance of Heir, fabulous.
Palindrome Love (Robert Lynn) is a gimmick play. There are two brief scenes, involving Bob (John Stange) and Ada (Sara Bickler). The characters say in the second scene everything that they said in the first scene, but because the context and line reads are much different in the second scene, the meaning is much different. This is a nice technical accomplishment but good theater is more than technical accomplishments. Lynn gives his characters mostly clichés by way of dialogue; this makes the lines easier for the audience to remember (and thus easier to mark off against a mental checklist of first scene-second scene lines) but does not enhance their meaningfulness, or the characters’ likeability. The acting, though, is good.
Insurance (Steve Silver) is too preposterous and false to be believed. Two members of Congress, Richard and Katherine (Pat Martin and Adele Robey, respectively) are having a date – apparently in public – notwithstanding that Richard is married and has three children. For some reason Richard seems impelled to sell Katherine insurance, and Katherine is after Richard to reveal his most intimate secrets even as she reveals her own. Eventually, a surprise ending solves some of the mysteries, but not all, and believe me when I tell you that the game is not worth the candle. Silver obliges his characters to switch emotional states without rhyme of reason, and the actors are not the equal to it. I must tell you that I did not buy Martin at all. As for the fabulous Robey, who co-founded Theater Alliance and the H Street Playhouse and is a 2007 graduate of the Theatre Lab Honors Conservatory, I would not presume to judge her performance, other than to note that we should give her the space to learn the craft which she allowed so many others to practice through her generosity.
Dave Crowley directed all five plays and imbued them with as much energy and urgency as the scripts allowed.
Equilibrium
Insurance by Steve Silver
Cry on Cue by Patrick Link
Palindrome Love by Robert Lynn
A Walk in the Ocean by Mark Harvey Levine
The Greener Lot by Carl Brandt Long
Directed by Dave Crowley
Produced by No Small Parts
Reviewed by Tim Treanor
Read all the reviews and check out the full Capital Fringe schedule here.
Did you see the show? What did you think?
How could you not mention the venue!? Sitting comfortably with a drink is the absolute BEST way to see a show! What a nice change from typical Fringe settings!
About the show, I don’t disagree with you, but if you’re disappointed by shows that are gimmicky or have no point you may be in for a long Festival! I thought these oddball scenes were right on target for the Fringe, and – as you said – they were generally executed VERY well.
While I generally agree with much of the overall criticism, how did the reviewer come to the conclusion that the two characters in A Walk in the Ocean were walking on the water? The trousers and skirt of the characters are rolled up, there’s a line that says “Here you can walk out in the water a mile from shore”… And there are beaches were you really can do that, including the one I my family usually went to when I was a kid. The summer after high school I went there late in the evening with friends and we walked straight out for half an hour, until we were waist deep in still, warm water, far from any other people, in the dark… it’s a very special experience. And real.
Critics are, well, critical and that is all well and good. But critics also should avoid snarky comments—-we should give her the space to learn the craft—-in reference to the “fabulous Adele Robey.” Not helpful, just mean while at the same time managing to be disingenuously obsequious. And really, I read your bio,Tim, how exactly are you qualified? It’s ALWAYS easier to criticize than to create. Perhaps someone should give you the space to learn the craft.
Theatre Lover misunderstands what I’ve written. When I say “the fabulous Adele Robey” I mean exactly that. Robey has been instrumental in pioneering theater in a geographic area where many folks were afraid to tread. Her success, and the success of her enterprise, has led the way for H Street development. She is a fabulous person and a fabulous theater leader.
And, because she has contributed in so significant a way to both theater and economic development in the DC area, I will not presume to judge her brief appearance on stage in this show.
Perhaps I misunderstood; perhaps you did not communicate well. I am aware of Adel’s contributions, but that isn’t the point. Every actor, no matter how accomplished, can benefit from constructive criticism. Yours was not.
I saw this show a couple weeks ago. It was my first Fringe show. I saw a few others since then, but wanted to write that this was my favorite. I loved seeing the small studies of relationships.
I agree completely with your statement regarding Robert Lynn’s writing. He is known for having the second act contain the same phrases as the first. It is fine, the first time you see it, if you have good actors. To see it in play after play, leads you to the conclusion that he should stick to his “day job”.