Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Really Really **

(Please click on the title to see the complete review). 
MCC Theater is to be congratulated for bringing the work of a promising young playwright to New York. In this intriguing but ultimately frustrating drama now in previews at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, 26-year-old playwright Paul Downs Colaizzo offers a blistering view of the Me Generation. The plot revolves around what actually happened at a drunken college party at the house of Cooper (David Hull), a slacker who is on the rugby team. Leigh (Zosia Mamet from "Girls"), a student whose boyfriend Jimmy (Evan Jonigkeit) is away for the weekend, claims she was raped at the party by Davis (Matt Lauria), a campus heartthrob who shares the house. He has no memory of what transpired. We question her claim because she has already lied about being pregnant to hang on to her wealthy boyfriend, she has a slutty reputation, and she sees her accusation as a way out of poverty. Also, Davis has a sterling reputation as a good guy. As the situation develops, we learn the responses of Davis's career-minded teammate Johnson (Kobi Libii), Leigh's cynical sister Haley (Aleque Reid) and her earnest roommate Grace (Lauren Culpepper). The relentlessly self-serving message of the speeches Grace gives as president of the Future Leaders of America is a counterpoint to the plot. By play's end, almost everyone has revealed a dark side that changes our perceptions. It's never boring, but a little too schematic. There is one puzzling plot development in the second act that makes no sense at all. The play is ill-served by David Korins' set design that involves frequent shoving of furniture back and forth and doesn't really capture the differences between the two student homes. Sarah Laux's costumes are suitable to each character. David Cromer's direction was not up to the high standard he set with "Our Town" and "Tribes." Running time: 2 hours including intermission.

1 comment:

Penny Gwyn said...

the show was designed for maximum annoyance. the set rotates every scene blocking the views of everyone in the audience at least once. the many versions of the truth reminds us
that zosia's dad wrote the terminally annoying "oleanna."