Day three: Catch

Today, our group decided to start a three-word digest of the shows we see. Particularly, the less than great ones. For this show, Catch, I decided on "non-committal, tentative man-women."

Actually, the show itself was okay, and I'd say it has potential, it just wasn't very well done. It's about men finding Russian wives on the internet. It's a pretty modern play, so it doesn't have a super defined arc, but it does leave a lot of room for artistic interpretation. If done right, it would be intriguing.

The company I saw perform it today was close to having a grasp on it, but I think they took it too far to the fringe-y side. The play revolves around two men, but they were both played by women. That didn't make much sense to me, because they never used that for any sort of commentary (or at least it never came across). They decided to get at a lot of the themes and symbolism through movement, but the movements were sloppy, without enough unison where there was supposed to be. Also, the actresses were often too aware of being onstage, so there was a clear separation between the women as actors and as characters. One of the actresses was significantly more committed than the other, which was enjoyable to watch when it happened, but it was still distracting to have such a gap between the two. The other always tried too hard to have male characteristics, and she came across almost clown-like because of how much she pushed it. The one part I liked her in, though, was when she played the daughter of one of the older men (played by the other woman), and I suspect that's because she was more in tune in her own life with that type of person. I could be wrong with my interpretation; maybe they were going for clown-like, but if that's what they intended, they didn't push it hard enough. And if they weren't going for that, the actresses weren't natural in their roles. Instead, they tended to sit at an awkward, indecisive middle-ground for the majority of the show.

The actresses did, however, seem have a great time doing the show, which made it much more enjoyable to watch than if it had simply been poorly done. I will definitely give them props for their energy. And the movement and symbolism had potential to be really cool, they may even just need some time to sink into it. Also, the program references a show called Skolka that I gather relates to this one, saying that the brides from that are telling the men's story in this. I know nothing about that play, so it could be that I'm just missing a connection that relates to women playing the men.

Other side notes:

- I bought a scarf today.

- It was overcast all day like Seattle, but when it rained, it rained like the Bay Area. (Hard rain, not spit-in-your-face Seattle rain.) I loved it. Felt right at home!

- The picture above is the view from my room. I haven't yet figured out what that Parthenon-looking thing is, but I plan to hike up to it on a day off.

- I have barely taken any pictures. I only have my big camera and I walk everywhere, so it's hard to commit to carrying something heavy. But I'll definitely bust out the fancy-pants camera soon.