The New Electric Ballroom, by Enda Walsh
Oct. 1st, 2014 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aK. and I saw The New Electric Ballroom at the Shotgun Players tonight. I hated it, but in a totally different way than I hated Daylighting earlier this year. Daylighting was pure amateur hour, while this one was clearly well-written, but it was dull, depressing, and pretentious.
Basic Synopsis: Nothing ever changes in town. Wait, something might change ... nah.
Alternate Name for Play: Waiting for Sponge Cake.
Basic Plot: Someone tells a story, someone else tells a story, then a third story casts a new light on those stories and the characters in the play.
Elapsed Time of Plot: About 15 minutes.
Total Length of Play: 90 excruciating minutes.
Highlight of Play: Character singing rock in a blue suede suit with lots of hip swaying.
Lowlight of Play: Door slamming and shouting to make you think something is happening.
Based on Reviewers who liked this play ... I should avoid plays that the reviewer said was "surreal" (as 3 out of 4 reviewers of "The New Electric Ballroom" did).
When I used to have a subscription to Berkeley Rep, my experience was that I actively disliked just under half of their plays. This year at Shotgun we've seen a brilliant 12th Night, a great Stoppard, an amateur Daylighting, and a dull New Electric Ballroom. So, we're right on schedule.
The advantage of having a subscription is, of course that you see stuff that you wouldn't have picked on your own, and some of it's great. But for this season if we were picking and choosing, Kimberly and I would have probably just seen the Stoppard, 12th Night, and Daylighting, which would have pulled out ratio up to 2 out of 3. But maybe one of the last plays will be great ... and we wouldn't have otherwise seen them.
Basic Synopsis: Nothing ever changes in town. Wait, something might change ... nah.
Alternate Name for Play: Waiting for Sponge Cake.
Basic Plot: Someone tells a story, someone else tells a story, then a third story casts a new light on those stories and the characters in the play.
Elapsed Time of Plot: About 15 minutes.
Total Length of Play: 90 excruciating minutes.
Highlight of Play: Character singing rock in a blue suede suit with lots of hip swaying.
Lowlight of Play: Door slamming and shouting to make you think something is happening.
Based on Reviewers who liked this play ... I should avoid plays that the reviewer said was "surreal" (as 3 out of 4 reviewers of "The New Electric Ballroom" did).
When I used to have a subscription to Berkeley Rep, my experience was that I actively disliked just under half of their plays. This year at Shotgun we've seen a brilliant 12th Night, a great Stoppard, an amateur Daylighting, and a dull New Electric Ballroom. So, we're right on schedule.
The advantage of having a subscription is, of course that you see stuff that you wouldn't have picked on your own, and some of it's great. But for this season if we were picking and choosing, Kimberly and I would have probably just seen the Stoppard, 12th Night, and Daylighting, which would have pulled out ratio up to 2 out of 3. But maybe one of the last plays will be great ... and we wouldn't have otherwise seen them.