And there’s another similarity between those shows: both are
built around smart and intriguing ideas that got overwhelmed by the
self-indulgence of their creators.
Lonergan made his name with such plays as This is Our Youth
and Lobby Hero about modern-day slackers, well-meaning but aimless and
apathetic young men usually working in dead-end jobs. He’s kept the character
type in this new work but he’s radically changed the setting. Medieval Play takes place in 14th century Europe during the wars between rival popes.
The play's protagonists are Sir Ralph (Josh Hamilton) and Sir Alfred (Tate Donovan) two
knights-for-hire caught up in the decades-long conflict. At times, they are
like Hamlet’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, side players to the main action who provide comic
commentary on the goings on. And
at others, they are versions of Waiting for Godot’s Vladimir and Estragon,
everymen wrestling with the big existential stuff like faith in God and loyalty to one’s
friends. Sounds promising either
way, right?
Alas, neither promise gets fulfilled. The problem is that Lonergan is so busy showing off how much he knows about the period and making
himself laugh that he loses all perspective. The moral questions get trampled and the same jokes get hit over
and over and over again. An adept
director might have helped but Lonergan serves as his own director and allows
his playwright to frolic unbridled.
The show’s main conceit is that the medieval characters
talk like today's hipsters. Anachronisms, profanity and scatological
behavior abound. Saints drop F-bombs. A couple engages in a
long, bare-butts sex scene. One of
the knights decides to take a dump on stage. And everyone makes meta references
about their times and ours.
It’s the kind of stuff that might be funny for about five
minutes in a “Saturday Night Live” skit but Lonergan stretches it out for
nearly three hours. Whole rows of
people fled during intermission at the performance I attended. Those of us who soldiered on fell into conversations
during the break and afterward on the way out of the theater in which the word
“sophomoric” could be heard echoing from one group to the next.
As usual, the cast is game, particularly the six who play a
dizzying variety of roles from noblemen and saints to peasants and whores. Heather
Burns stands out as an officious saint Catherine of Siena, who often serves as
the show's narrator, providing the historic context and filling the audience in
on all the research that Lonergan did.
I’ve always been fascinated by the Middle Ages and so those were almost my
favorite parts. The only thing I liked better was set designer Walt Spangler’s simple but witty Candlyand version of the medieval European landscape and its castles. Some of the stuff he came up with really made me laugh and did it without
trying too hard.
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