I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t what I got Thursday night at the Mendelssohn Theatre. I’m familiar with Chekhov’s original, having seen it over three years ago, however I’m not so familiar that I remember every detail. So I found myself in a pretty good place coming in, seeing as Stupid F###ing Bird is a parody/adaptation of sorts.
What I wasn’t expecting was the tour-de-force production that the cast and crew of SMTD put on.
First things first, go see this show. Before I say anything else about it, just know that it is phenomenal and you need to see it. This play deserved a packed house last night, but unfortunately it was low on patrons – there were only a couple hundred people there at most. Tickets are free (yes, free) with a Passport, so please take advantage of it and go see it.
Now then, this play.
Being a writer and all, I have to first acknowledge what incredible writing this play contains. I’ve heard it said that good writing doesn’t need to use, ah, alternative language, but this play certainly uses it and abuses it and it works. But more than the profanity is the sheer truthfulness to the dialogue. Multiple times the actors talk over one another, fighting for dominance in the conversation, and then suddenly drift away, ums and ands included. While I can’t be sure all of this was written in the script and some of this should be attributed it to the actors, the script cannot be forgotten. At times I just marveled in how clear the play was. At one point, the actors line up, facing the audience, and rattle off what they want, to be loved, to be famous, to have a big bowl of ice cream (I feel ya, Dev). This kind of directness is rare to see in plays, and was a surprising but refreshing change from the usual.
However, it didn’t surprise me as much as the meta-textual elements that I found running rampant throughout the play. From the small, intimate looks the actors would give to the audience, to Con, our main character, calling for the house lights as he jumps off the stage and demands the audience tell him how to win his girlfriend Nina back. This was a particular high point for me, because it highlighted both the inevitability of life and of the play going on; there was a plant in the audience who prompted Con to rejoin the scene at hand. But it was more than that. As Sorn celebrates his 60th birthday, he demands to know if he’s the only one acting. Of course, the audience laughs, as yes, they are all acting on stage in the moment. But beneath those laughs is that very true question: do people put on an act even throughout their daily lives?
And that’s where this play’s writing shines. Most serio-comedies struggle with the balance between the two, instead making a drama with elements of comedy sprinkled throughout in order to keep the audience from leaving too depressed. Posner’s play does the exact opposite, relying heavily on drama to save the play from its own absurdness. Whenever things get too serious, true comedy, not a cheap joke, comes in to remind the audience that they came to see a comedy, and a comedy is what they’re getting.
As far as the actors go, they handled all of Posner’s randomness with the utmost perfection. The switches from life to scene could be jarring for some actors, and yet this cast does it with such ease, you’d think all plays include direct audience address and participation. I was also happily surprised that the majority of the cast also played instruments throughout. I knew there were musical elements in Stupid F###ing Bird, but I didn’t exactly know to what to expect. The actress portraying Mash, the gloomy yet always poignant sidekick, shined here, toting around a ukulele, always ready to show off her songwriting ability to either her friends or to the audience.
But the best acting really goes to junior Graham Techler for his superb portrayal of main character Conrad, or Con for short. While I had my doubts at the beginning of the play, he juiced Con’s character arc for all its worth. From his first appearance shouting START THE FUCKING PLAY at the audience, to his ultimate humiliation when firing his gun, demanding to know why he has to die and again, shouting at the audience to STOP THE FUCKING PLAY.
I could honestly go on about how amazing this production was, from all of the actors to the incredibly detailed and yet simple set designs, but I’ll spare you. All you need to know about Stupid F###ing Bird are these three things:
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This is a quality production
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This is quality writing, both the funny and the insightful
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You do not need to know anything about Chekhov to understand it
While the majority of the play functions as Posner using Con as his mouthpiece to berate Trigorin/Chekhov, this really isn’t the main point of the play. Asking the big questions, either to the audience or to the other characters, challenging current notions of what art can and cannot be, and being absolutely hilarious along the way – that’s what this play gives. It gives its heart, even if it amounts to nothing except a Stupid F###ing Bird.
