Sections

Neighborhoods

Features

Follow Us

NHI Newsletter

Some Favorite Sites

Government/ Community Links

24 Points About “24-Hour Theater”

by Paul Bass | Oct 6, 2006 1:43 pm

Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Arts


Point #1: Give a group of playwrights, actors, directors and set designers just 24 hours to create a set of five-minute plays on similar topics. What do you get? A fun, risk-taking, at times inspired, uneven show. Such a show opened Thursday night at Yale Cabaret. It runs through Saturday night.

Point #2: The playwrights had to include the following elements in all their plays: a squirrel on a stick; the circus; and the line, “Are you coming on to me?” Watching the eight plays, you assume there was another prescribed element: a murder. Yet murder was not on the menu. It was just by coincidence that almost all the playwrights inserted a murder on their own. And the murder often had to do with a rabid stuffed squirrel.

Point #3: In an exercise like this, you can’t expect every participant to score. At least one playwright is bound to get stuck and fail to combine all the elements in an interesting or original way. In “Freaks,” Justin Sherin resorted to what seemed like a cheap alternative: having the characters inform us that they had to say the required line, even though it didn’t fit, because the playwright couldn’t figure out an alternative.

Point #4: You apparently don’t need a whole lot of time to create a memorable set. Check out the paintings in this photo and others in this review.

Point #5: If you’re in charge of the order of staging an evening of sketches like these, it makes sense to group the less successful bits near the beginning (but not the very beginning), then save the stronger ones for the end, in order to build to a climax and keep people in their seats. At least that’s what the Cabaret seemed to do.

Point #6: Plot isn’t essential to a good play, but it can help. As with flash fiction, short plays written and rehearsed and staged within a constraint like a 24-hour deadline pose a special challenge. There’s precious little time or space to develop characters or create an absorbing narrative line. And as with flash fiction, it’s a challenge worth meeting; it adds extra power to the piece. That’s why I liked Deeksha Gaur’s “Love/Clown,” a lovers’ quarrel between a tightrope walker and a clown, best of all. Not only did I care about the characters. The piece included a genuine mystery about who cut the tightrope, and why—with a surprise ending. There was even room for an entertaining action sequence.

Point #7: Squirrels aren’t terrorists. No matter what the U.S. government says. Or are they? Nelson Eusebio III’s “Der Eichhornchen-Zirkus” leaves that question hanging.

Point #8: There were eight sketches in all. The number worked for two reasons: It offered a big enough selection to include winners. And it allowed for cross-fertilization, with actors and writers working together in different combinations.

Point 9: Jason Wells had an inspired idea that distinguished his “To The Circus” sketch: remove the action from a circus tent, and therefore avoid some of the concepts, cliches and jokes that appear in the other sketches.

Point #10: For instance: The sketch had no conjoined twins looking to separate.

Point #11: Although conjoined twins do have their place. Matt Gaffney (pictured, out of costume) stole the show as a Giggles the circus monkey who doubles as a doctor. Before his appointed tee time on the links, he performs an operation to separate two conjoined twins, with a banana. Gaffney played it just right—not overplaying the role by acting too manic.

Point #23: To be fair, the reviewer should have to follow similar constraints to those imposed on the playwrights—in this case, meeting a 24 minute deadline. That’s why points 12-22 are missing here. (And the deadline was even extended three minutes.) That points to a basic accomplishment for which the Yale Cabaret crew deserves credit: succeeding at the assignment, actually finishing all these plays and having them in performance-ready form.

Point #24: Even a better-prepared review shouldn’t be the last word. If you attend the show, feel free to offer your own thoughts in the comments section below.

Share this story with others.

Share |

Post a Comment

Comments

There were no comments

get ANDI

Events Calendar

loading…

SeeClickFix »

no right on red traffic sign to turn right on to to Brewery ST.
May 24, 2012 9:04 pm
Address: Intersection Of Brewery St And Sargent Drive New Haven, CT
Rating: 1

There is a no turn on red sigh=n. for the right hand turn on to...

more »
Burnt out or shorting bulb
May 24, 2012 7:33 pm
Address: 158 Porter St. New Haven, CT
Rating: 2

Street lamp doesn't come on at night.

Flyerboard

Sponsors

N.H.I. Site Design & Development

smartpill design