Bad Plays

Yesterday I saw one of the worst plays I have seen in a while. It even won the Tony award in 2013. But I should have listened to the review that said that 2013 was not a good year for the Tony awards. I was visibly distraught and very, very tempted to throw my donuts at the stage. Also to ask for my money back.



But I was sitting right at the back. The theater was posh, partly the good kind of posh with a great set and lovely stairs but partly the snooty kind of posh, where people would selectively say excuse me when brushing past to get to their seats. The demographic was clearly older, rich people. It just made eating my donuts from a plastic cup all the more fun. I think if I had enjoyed the play, none of this would have mattered. But the only good thing about it was the gorgeous set.

The plot just kept unraveling. Chekovian references aside, here is a list of things that I did not enjoy:

1. The rather unnecessary nudity and thrusting by the character Spike. Vulgar and not really adding to anything except the dumb good-looking actor stereotype.
2. The casting of a black lady as the housekeeper, who also does voodoo and eventually makes everything right aka prevents the rich, evil sister from the selling the house where she and her siblings grew up. It reminded me of Roxane Gay's analysis of The Help and the magical black woman character. The actress was great, perhaps the best of them all. It was the casting in the rest of an all-white cast that made me question it.
3. The stupid story line. Really.
4. The rant by Vanya towards the end about his nostalgia for the fifties. It felt so put on and artificial.

I did enjoy the character of Sonia and I think she acted very well (she goes to a costume party as the Evil Queen as played by Dame Maggie Smith and it was funny). I mostly laughed because I found the performances so appalling. I should have left at the intermission, but I felt obliged to stay. I am realizing that life is too short to sit through bad movies and plays and finish terrible books. I am writing this more for cathartic relief and to get over the burn of having spent good money on this play than to provide you with a sensible analysis.