theater review: Looking for Normal
1/17/08
Looking for Normal, presented by ARTisphere Theater at the Theater Garage.
Although the subject matter was interesting and good fodder for drama (a middle american man wanting gender reassignment surgery and how he and his family deals with that), I thought the script was poorly written. There were too many monologues and short, choppy scenes which forced the actors to reach for unearned emotional moments and manufacture the arcs rather than just simply responding in the moment.
I also disagreed with many basic directorial choices, including the overall sound design (they used cow and bird sounds as establishment... but we were INSIDE... and the REPEATED use of a single song for every transition just deadened any effectiveness it would have had), the actor's approach to naturalism, the poorly positioned furniture on tiny furniture which forced the actors to constantly be upstaging themselves and awkwardly make their way around the stage, and the scrim, which wasn't fully utilized so the mechanics of crossing behind it and seeing the props table were just annoying.
However, Mo had a breathtaking monologue about love deep into the second act. She spoke about her hands, and all the different parts of lovers that they had touched. And it didn't matter if it was a roll of fat or the braille of a scar or wrinkled arms. She loved them all because she loved the person who owned them.
It was the one Pass moment in the show, and she did it beautifully.
2 out of 5 stars.
one for Mo, and one for the subject matter.