When something new is tried for the first time, there are many expectations. And since in today’s world, it takes a lot to even make us look- let alone sit in one place for more than a hour, playwrights have to resort to a lot of tricks. But sometimes, as a playwright, you just have to stick to the old but time-tested plots to live up to expectations. This was proved when I went to see David Leddy’s “Susurrus” at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens.
This part radio, part “guide to opera”, part “101 to bird dissection”, part “best way to get you outside” play was one without actors or a stage. Set in the ever beautiful (yet surprisingly still verdant- for this time of the year that is) Matthaei botanical gardens, this play was quite novel in many ways- the use of technology, the use of a sprawling garden as a set, the creative use of different themes supporting the main plot,etc.
The play is about a family and there are four actors – four “voices” in your iPod who guide you through the garden ( you are also given a map). Supposedly, as you plod along the trails, the plot and the location blend to give you an unforgettable experience. So how can this fail? There are four elements involved here- the location, the techonology, the plot of the play and you, the audience.
Let’s take the location. I went on a day when the temperature was in the nippy 68-70 F and there was a balmy breeze and you could hear the susurrus of the stream as well as in the trees! It was an azul sky with a very benevolent sun. So location was perfect!
As for the technology, I had no trouble using the map and syncing the “track” on the iPod Shuffle to the directed location as it was all spelt out very well. And as for the audience, I was fed and watered and I had gone there with a very good friend! So you couldn’t have asked for a more attentive or contented audience.
And the plot? That’s where things went wrong! The play is about a family but about a dysfunctional one! It was dark and completely disturbing. Suicide, sexual abuse by a parent,the blissful obliviousness of the other parent to the behavior of the first parent, disconnected and confused characters – I found it to be perverted and extremely dark for my liking. Agreed that I wasn’t looking for a Disney version of a play just because it was set in a gorgeous location, but this was not what I had expected either.The scenic setting or the novel use of technology had no connection to what I deem a really blotchy plot.
References to Shakespeare’ s “A midsummer’s night dream” were perverted. Oberon and Titania fighting over the Indian boy for totally the wrong reasons!!! Well, I don’t know. This is not what I think a “new” look is!
As a saving grace, the story was suspenseful in the sense that you wanted to know what was going on and what had happened to the main character. And the operatic fillers in between were very pleasant. That part was cleverly done .
While I certainly don’t recommend looking at the world with rose-colored lenses, I don’t want to take a microscope to its weird and disturbing behavior either and I certainly don’t want to be thinking of dysfunctional families with members with suicidal tendencies in a serenely calm environment like at the gardens.(Look at this bloom that I photographed at the gardens that day- who wants to think of suicide or crazy bird dissections?)
Portraying dark and such depressing themes in an effort to shock the audience into acceptance of the novelty is not the way to go. The play would have been so so tedious were it just set in a normal set!
Till the end, I could not understand the necessity for the “garden” as a stage and I felt that the play had no connection whatsoever. Was the susurrus of the trees and the stream supposed to calm you down as you listened to this weird stuff? Sometimes, even “special effects and new technology” are no substitute for a good plain old solid script!
To misquote from the play,”Sorry, I will not be thinking of you!”.
Yours truly,
for [art]seen
