Last night I saw the worst play I have ever seen.
Now, I won’t name the play, because it is irrelevant to my point, but let me just say that I saw a stage production of Pippin once, in which 9/10ths of the audience walked out prior to intermission and that deserved a Tony in comparison to what I saw last night.
Now, nothing about the effort that went into this particular production was bad, in fact, it was one of the most breathtaking and innovative performances I had ever seen. There was a miraculous integration with cinema, fantastic performances, incredible sets, and perfectly styled costumes.
There was just one but: the play made no sense. None at all. Not to be dramatic, but I firmly grasped the plot of LOST and Inception, but this, nope, I didn’t have a clue.
The problem with this show was clear, too many people, too close to the project. The play was commissioned as a new work by a Vancouver based theater company. The struggle with this was that the Artistic Director and Literary Manager of this particular company were directly involved with the playwriting of the piece. In the team of six who led the project, there was tons of talent and innovative thinkers who came up with some brilliant ideas. However, everyone involved had themselves far too intrenched in the project and there was no room for a critical perspective.
The result of this, was a very long two hour and forty five minute production that had about twenty overlapping plot points, five distinct theatrical styles, and far too many off- shoots from any of the core plot events.
As I sat in class today and we discussed criticism and feedback, and how that is an incredible skill to develop, I couldn’t help but think, if that production had simply had a few outside people with an effective critical eye, it wouldn’t have been a mess of concepts, instead it would have been one of the more moving pieces of theater I had ever seen.
This is a life lesson for all of us, in every project a little distance and a little help from those who are critical (for the best of course) is a must. So next time a suggestion is given, or a point brought up, embrace it and be better because of it – you are lucky to have heard it in the first place.