Day twenty: Precious Little Talent

I originally had a ticket for Chekov's Ivanov, which was done in a pool, and was apparently horrible. I guess it was only about "hey, we're in a pool!" and they relied on that to carry them through the rest. Kind of like a Hugh Grant movie ("hey, it's Hugh Grant!"). So, I skipped that and went to Precious Little Talent, which many people recommended to me. It was a sweet play about Joey, a 23-year-old English (not British, she specifies) girl who goes to New York to stay with her father over the holidays (and potentially beyond), and meets Sam, a 19-year-old American boy, who is her father's caretaker. On the surface, it is a romantic comedy, but that title does not do it justice. There is a significant amount of depth, from the once brilliant father's waning brain functionality to Joey resisting and then embracing the American ideals of hope and change.

As an American, it was interesting to a) catch the boy's slip-ups in his accent and b) listen to the banter between the two people regarding each other's culture (or lack thereof). There was a solid theme throughout of Joey having lost her job, not having much of a path, and not wanting to be forgotten. Meanwhile, her father is in the process of forgetting her, as his brain deteriorates at a relatively young age. Sam essentially plays her hero, with an endearing innocence and persevering optimism. They compare the English ideas that things are how they are, and you deal with it and enjoy what you have, to the American idea that anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Each has its place, and the argument was not biased until the end, when Joey decides (in her words) that it takes more balls to be as idealistic as Sam than it does to simply accept what's in front of you.

It was refreshing to see the U.S. in a positive light overseas. Not because I felt proud, necessarily, but because what the play represents seems like a step toward the direction we want to be going in; people see each other as individuals seeking the same important thing, rather than as masses creating a country with one mind behind everything. Also, I don't know how many plays Obama has been mentioned in yet, but I suspect this is one of the first.

That said, it wasn't overwhelmingly political. The play maintains a balanced sprinkling of humor, and societal and personal depth throughout. The characters were all pretty convincing, aside from the boy being a little too fidgety (he was trying to play nervous). Regardless, it was definitely enjoyable until the end.