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| (foreground) Phillip Herrington, (left to right) Louis Farber, Melody Knudson, Charles Sohn, Shari Watts, and Wyatt Kent photo: John Groseclose |
"Stray Cat Theatre presents the Valley premiere of Stupid Fucking Bird, a modern twist on Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, with a superb cast that gets to the heart of the serious and comical moments present in the adaptation. While not everything works in this take-off of Chekhov's play, the dramatic scenes, and monologues in particular, are smartly acted and directed. However, the problem is that the comedy is sometimes at odds with the more dramatic moments and you don't really care for most of the characters and aren't that concerned for what happens to them.. focuses on creative angst and love, both fulfilled and unrequited, and the mostly failed relationships and unsuccessful artistic endeavors that result from them. Posner also adds a huge dollop of self-reference into the piece, including having Conrad announce that he has written a play called Stupid Fucking Bird and having the actors break the fourth wall to talk to the audience at numerous times, and commenting that they know they are in a play. But this play within a play element never plays out to fruition and some of Posner's ideas...fall flat and don't really add much to the thrust of the play. While the self-referential component of the piece runs the risk of becoming precious or pretentious, it fortunately never does. However, it also doesn't add anything to the overall play. If Posner is trying to be funny, he is, but having the characters tell us that they know they are in a play and then proceeding onward with their individual character arcs and never having this element return to have any relevance is just lazy, awkward, and ultimately meaningless...Stray Cat's cast is exceptional and they create realistic, identifiable characters, even though they are almost all so miserable that you never truly care for them. ...Director Ron May infuses the proceedings with a deep sense of empathy and elicits rich performances from his cast. He knows how to mine laughs from the pathos of the characters and situations yet also makes the dramatic scenes sizzle. ...Full of angst and irony and characters who are "lost in love and dismally disappointed," as Mash states at one point, Stupid Fucking Bird will probably best be enjoyed by those who are familiar with Chekhov's play or those who appreciate Posner's irreverent take on the material and self-referential view of itself. Chekov himself spoke of new forms of theatre, and Posner also has Conrad lament this need to "open new possibilities." I just wish Posner had been able to find a way to truly pull all of his ideas together to truly create this new form of theatre that Chekov spoke of so many years ago." -Gil Benbrook, Talkin' Broadway (click here to read the complete review)
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