Tuesday, July 31, 2012

An Answer For The Unknown - New Plastic Theatre


"Those dreams are not for you."

Dane, a man in mourning, accepts an online ad for a tour of hell. With the help and direction of a guide, he meets famous ghosts who make him understand important truths about death, dying, and the afterlife.

I suppose we should get all the "theater is hell" jokes out of the way now, right? You go ahead and think 'em up, get 'em out of your system. I'll wait. OK, on we go. The thing that was distinctive about this preview is the use of shadow work. Quick simple set-up with a sheet hung in front of lights, and then the use of body parts and cardboard cut-outs and even changes in color of light to play with our sense of perspective and reality. Considering all the ways this could have gone off the rails, this was a really impressive preview. Also, the skeleton face makeup on most of the actors was damn creepy. It's too bad we didn't get to see more of it now. But there's 45 more minutes in the show for that to happen. If you like your Fringe with a couple of shades of dark to it, this might be your ticket. I'm intrigued.

No comments: