This is definitely an unusual play – at times hard to follow, quirky, and certainly original, so yes, it’s a text-book example of Fringe at its best! It proves challenging to draw in an audience, but it may still be worth your while to see it.
Cavers is 80 minutes long but actually seems longer – never a good thing to say about a play, of course.
Still and all, there are good things to say about it also, starting with the fact that the content is so off-the-wall strange -speleologists(cavers) meetup with spelunkey monkeys! And also with country-cranky yet cool Gertie Stoval (played and cracking wise by Raven Bonniwell), owner with her half-brother George Stoval (Tom Eisman, dour but dignified as a county commissioner who also”grows certrain illegal cash crops”) of a collapsing farmhouse sitting atop a wondrous cavern with a curative potential to make the American Dream come true! How’s that for a catchy premise?
But wait, as they say on TV infomercials, there’s more!
The two speleologists are Charlie Tuggle (played with gawky charm by Vanita Kalra) and Dr. Polly Eidelweiss (Abri O’Connor), a lesbian on the prowl for winsome Charlie, as she comes on to her saying “you’re cute in a grad student sort of way.” They meet in turn Samantha Dean (Molly Coyle), who wants to use the magic cave to stage Godspell while the two academics debate how to harvest grants for medical research from it, and god-fearing Gertie, denying evolution with every breath, meanwhile “thinks small,” having no idea what the stakes really are and simply wants to give tours there. Another scheme is to use the space to store radioactive waste products.
Possible uses of the cave are much discussed and most of the play is set underground in a darkened place filled with cave monkeys (why – of course!),spurring much talk of evolutionary theory (who really is descended from whom, Mr. Darwin?). Playwright Mark Rigney, now a stay-at-home-dad with two young sons, and a novelist and short-story writer in Evansville Indiana, seems to know his scientific stuff.
Messy property rights are also at issue in Cavers. Who has the right to exploit the wondrous properties of this magical cavern? Like Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon,” the cavern is something that dreams are made of, but whose dream shall prevail?
Basically, stay away from this one unless you don’t mind the longeurs of being bored by long stretches of pointless dialogue and digressive mystifications. But if you’re fascinated with caves, then this rates at best a definite maybe.
Cavers
Produced by Nu Sass Productions
Reviewed by David Hoffman
Running time: 80 minutes
Read all the reviews and check out the full Capital Fringe schedule here.
Did you see the show? What did you think?
To the playwright mark FRigney I want to say that it is far tougher to write something original such you have attempted and achieved with considerable effect thasn it is to write a review of it. So I acknowledge thast your views about your play carry real heft with me, and I must make it clear that I found much in the play that was tnhought-provoking and at time quite funny.
As for Alan Smithee, a well-known Hollywood pseudonym for someone (the director usually) associated with a show he or she wishes to orphan creatively, why not take off the mask and tell us who you really are instead of safely flipping the bird at the review from anonymous shadows?
And yes I did see the show and no my review was not (trite phrase) phoned in, it was emailed in.
I’ll add my voice to chorus of folks who were suprised by the original review. I experienced not a single dull moment and was thoroughly entertained by terrific performances (especially Gertie and Dr Eidelweiss) and creative staging. The theme exploring how difficult it is to balance the use and protection and rare resources was handled very smartly. And finally, I’d like second the motion that this show is very funny! I’d hate for anyone to stay away because they think it will be difficult or slow.
At the risk of drawing back the veil of Maya, I thought I might jump into the mix on Cavers. I don’t know that my perspective is any more valuable than anyone else’s––especially those of you who were kind enough to make up the show’s audience––but I do have to say that my particular view from the hill is certainly unique. Why? Because I wrote the script.
Yep, the author weighs in. For several reasons, one or two of which I will keep to myself, but mainly because the only way I can think of to properly participate in the current Nu Sass production (thank you, Nu Sass!) is to do so vicariously, through on-line venues such as this. Why? Because I will not be able to see Cavers myself. In fact, I have never seen Cavers on its feet. That’s the way it sometimes is with playwrights and plays; not being able to see the fruits of one’s labors is a sort of occupational hazard; it just plain goes with the territory.
What I would like to achieve by throwing my proverbial hat into this particular ring is to stimulate an ongoing and developing conversation, one in which I would be more than happy to field direct questions, etc. Perhaps this is naïve of me; perhaps no one will care. But how often do consumers of theater get to engage in a direct dialogue with the theater artists behind the show? Not often. Here, then, is one such chance, for good or for ill.
For anyone tempted to take me up on this offer, please be aware that my access to email (and thus to responding) is currently sporadic. Patience! I will respond as best I may!
Second, Nu Sass’ take on Cavers is ongoing, and certain kinds of criticism might be downright inappropriate in that they could damage the morale of those in the show––although hopefully most of those involved will either not log in to this or similar sites, or they will have developed a sufficiently rubber skin that all slings and arrows will simply bounce harmlessly into the dust.
Also, I can’t speak to the show itself, to this particular production. Again, I have never seen it. But for anyone curious about my intentions or interpretations script-wise, bring it on. (Sans cheerleaders.)
Regarding the posted reviews so far, I will say only this: I do my level best not to do or write anything in a script that is pointless. In any play worth its salt, there simply isn’t room for the truly pointless, and since I’m all too aware of that, I like to think that everything contained within my plays (comedies, dramas, or other) has a definite, possibly even definitive purpose.
Will those purposes always be apparent? No. And will such lack of clarity sometimes be my fault? Of course.
At any rate, I hope everyone reading this makes the time to see Cavers, or has already seen it, and while it surely won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I hold out the fervent hope that it will indeed be yours.
: )
Cheers––and let the games begin!
Mark Rigney
http://www.markrigney.net
I agree with Brock. This review isn’t just metaphorically phoned in, but also reads like it was literally phoned in to this reviewer. In fact, a great deal of the language used in this review is directly cribbed from the show’s advertising material rather than from the show itself.
This review, a word that I use only hesitantly to describe the above ball of text, is foreign to anyone who saw the show. No one in describing the plot would put such a heavy focus on the speleogists and such a light focus on Gertie, whose breaking of the fourth wall strings together the story. This review completely strikes out in its very weak attempts to explore the motivations of the characters.
There’s no mention of the solid performances of the cast, particularly the fantastic work of Raven Bonniwell in playing a character that will resonate with anyone who’s lived in a rural town. There’s no mention of the interesting use of light in the show by both the crew and by the actors onstage.
The central themes of this play include vivacity and fulfillment. The two speleologists develop through their relationships with the natural character of the cave, but in strikingly different ways as they are at different places in their lives. Another character develops through the cave’s relation to a man-made structure that he himself built. Another through the opportunity to have a minor revolt from the roles established for her by society. Another, already freed from all preset social roles, through the potential to find a place for herself in the world. To say Cavers is about something as hackneyed as the American Dream reveals not only a complete misunderstanding of the show, but also a misunderstanding of the phrase “American Dream”.
Also, the show’s funny. Really.
Now, I know the economy is rough, but we still need to vote with our wallets in support of the arts. The Capital Fringe Festival provides great opportunities to support hard-working, talented, creative local artists. The cast and crew of Cavers fit all of those descriptors, putting on a fine show that I greatly enjoyed when I saw it on opening night last week. I encourage all readers to ignore the extremely limited content of this review and see the show for themselves.
As for you, David, I would like to suggest two ways in which you in particular can support the arts. First, start attending the shows that you review. Second, stop writing terrible reviews that misrepresent shows to people who would otherwise attend and enjoy them.
I saw the show – did you? Because it was anything but boring, and it kind of seems like everything said here came second-hand from someone that was only half-listening throughout.