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| Play Program |
Stage West
The Traveling Toe and 2 trusty sidekicks on a cold, rainy, overcast day attended the Sunday afternoon performance of a play with an unusual title and interesting content written by Madeleine George. The play, "The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence" debuted off Broadway November 15, 2013.
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| Madeleine George playwright |
This play is engaging, if a bit confusing at times, as to what the true point is and yet it seems to say a lot about the need for modern society to communicate all to all. The characters in the play are depicted in different time periods and are different people but use the same name throughout the play.
The program notes indicate that the time line of the play is set in:
- March 1876, the date of the first voice communication by wire
- March 1891, shortly after Watson's return to Baker Street
- (yes that Watson)
- March 1931, Watson's interview at Bell Labs
- February to April 2011, the week of Watson's Jeopardy! tournament and after
Three actors play all the different characters and often move furniture around the set to set the stage for the next scene.
Garret Storms plays all Watsons with various accents and demeanors. He really does a nice job of these roles...sometimes he walks off stage looking like one character and then quickly comes back on as another Watson.
Allison Pistorius plays all the characters named Eliza and is very engaging in her various roles.
Aaron Roberts plays the Merrick characters...sometimes you like him and sometimes you don't.
This play is hard to describe as it jumps around from one Watson story to another one. It is perplexing, entertaining and makes one question will there really be a day when the robots rise up and take over.....well maybe. Do see this play as it is great fun and you and your seat mates will have much to discuss afterwards.
One of The Travelling Toes seat mates is very astute in the computer field and was a bit dismayed regarding one scene where a computer is being fixed, incorrectly to address the issue of a lost internet connection. But she was restrained by The Travelling Toe from jumping up on stage and correcting the errors herself.
The play , directed by Emily Scott Banks, runs through March 22nd.
One side note, since this is a contemporary play, I assume that the playwright thinks that for it to be considered contemporary then the "F" word must be bandied about as often as possible and repeated in various ways in the play. Perhaps a dictionary or synonym finder would be a good gift for Ms. George. There are many other words to convey frustration...such as golly, gosh, and pshaw!
Disclaimer: The Travelling Toe is not a professional theatrical critic and opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.
1 comment:
Good review. I agree, there is rarely a good reason to use that word, especially repeatedly.
Ann
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