Day twenty-one: Orphans

This play was so, so interesting to watch. I don't mean interesting like it was kind of okay and sometimes funny. I mean that it was nonstop intriguing, I-can't-stop-watching-the-wheels-turn-in-these-characters'-heads kind of interesting. I heard a few people comment about how the play needed to get moving, because it was slow to pick up. But to me, it was gripping the whole time. Wow, it is so well-written. Yes, the characters spend a lot of time skirting around issues and trying to get their points across, but it's because that's who they are; they're feeling each other out, and trying to communicate without digging themselves into deeper holes.

I'll back up. The play follows a couple, Helen and Danny, and Helen's brother, Liam. It opens as Liam bursts in on the couple having dinner, and he is covered in blood. The story continues from there as tensions arise from Helen's protectiveness over Liam (their parents died when they were young, so she essentially raised him), and her attempts at loyalty to Danny (she loves him dearly, but isn't satisfied with their marriage). The couple becomes inextricably involved with Liam's actions and borderline innocent mistakes, which turn out to be more and more deeply twisted as the play continues. It sounds like an intense drama, which sometimes it is, but a lot of it is actually hilarious. The humor is dark, well-placed and finely-tuned, so it is never disruptive and only adds to the experience.

The acting was solid, too. The actors were so deep into it, and more dedicated than most I've seen here so far. And to think they've been performing this for weeks.

We actually went to this panel a few weeks ago with five playwrights who have shows here at the festival, and one of them was Dennis Kelly, who wrote this play. Unfortunately, I can't remember anything specific he said about it, except that it began just from the idea of someone bursting into someone's dinner covered in blood.

They're selling the script at the theater, and I think I'm going to get it; most of all I want to see how it all translates on paper. I have a suspicion that if Americans performed it in the U.S., the humor would be lost. I think our instinct would be to read it as completely dramatic, or the audience may be afraid to laugh if we did employ the humor.

Seriously dynamic play, and incredibly written. Also, the set was mouthwatering.