In Which We Watch She Kills Monsters
Mar. 6th, 2020 09:45 pmI guess it wasn't technically our first play in Kauai, as we saw "South Pacific" some years ago, but that wasn't the same thing: we were still "visitors" then, and it was a pretty touristy activity, put on at a hotel with a fancy dinner and such. This, instead, was very much a local thing.
And, it was a pretty great experience.
The play immediately had my attention, because it was about a young woman who connects with her late sister by playing a Dungeons & Dragons adventure that her sister wrote. And the writing by Qui Nguyen is really top rate: clever and funny and touching.
There was a lot of really clever framed, multi-layered storytelling, of the sort I adore. You at some points could tell that the late Tilly's adventure was being translated through DM Chuck's gamemastering, and so you'd get strong female adventurers filtered through the male gaze ... and it was delightful. (And funny.)
The staging of the play by by KCP was really excellent. There was a lot of great '80s (and '90s?) music set between scenes that really underlined the storytelling, and there was great use of lighting, such as when they strobed the level-boss fights. I couldn't tell which of the staging was in the original play and which was chosen by the folks at KCP, but I'm pretty sure some of that was KCP, and I guess we'll learn more about their style as as we see more of their plays (spoiler there!).
But what as really amazing was the choreography. No, not the hilarious dance off (though that was amazing too), but the fight choreography, which was just stunning. I mean, I literally don't think I've ever seen such well choreographed fights in live theatre. They were swinging around swords and axes in pretty real-time (except in the strobe-lighted slo-mo fights) and there were kicks and hits and people being thrown violently to the ground. I dunno how they did it and made it look so real.
Kimberly has been having new problems with her foot, so we had a front-row seat (so that she didn't have to climb steps), and when no one else sat in the front row at first, I joked to Kimberly that we were in the "splash zone" ... and it turned out that we were really in the splash zone. The fighting was pretty naerly on top of us, and both Kimberly and I wondered at various times if we were going to get hit (but we weren't: the actors were very good at what they were doing).
And beyond that, it was really an inclusive play. I won't spoil it except to say: if it's ever put on near you, see it. I was soooo lucky that this was put on just a few months after we moved here.
And I also appreciate the fact that a few of the actors in the play are gamers over at Eight Moves Ahead. I haven't done much more than say "hi" to them a few times ... because they've been getting in late most Thursdays because they were putting on the play until 9pm or so. But they're folks I'll know better in the future, having seen them play a hilarious DM Chuck and an even more hilarious Orcus.
After the play, Kimberly and I detoured into Koloa for some ice cream, really having a nice, proper date night. Even if I did have to drive down the windy, poorly striped, poorly lit Tree Tunnel Road.
And we decided to definitely become members of the KCP. In fact we'll sign up for one of the higher patronage levels, because we feel we can make more of a difference for such a small theatre than we could have for one of the big theatres back in Berkeley (even the semi-pro ones like the Berkeley Playhouse).