Take Care of My Friend
This review is going to be shorter than my usual fare, namely because this piece was not my favorite. I returned to the Filigree Theatre after being so impressed with their final show of last season, The Illusionary Games of Edward Rye . I was excited to discover a new company that seemed to have fantastic taste in new work, and executed that work well - especially in terms of the caliber of talent they employed.
Filigree does three shows a season: one is a classic, one (I believe) is a work by a TX native or resident, and the third is a brand new piece. This season that new piece is Take Care of My Friend, a new play by Kathleen Fletcher, directed (as all their plays seem to be) by Artistic Director Elizabeth V. Newman. Unlike Illusionary last year which was deeply moving, and intelligent, with (generally) fantastic performances (that show went on to win BroadwayWorld Awards for Leading Performer in a Play (star and writer Ashley Griffin), Best Play, Best New Play, and Best Scenic Design (star Malcolm Stephenson was also nominated for Best Leading Performer in a Play and, if they still had gendered categories I have no doubt that he would have won in addition to Griffin (don't get me started on genderless categories... though I understand, and appreciate the need for them, it bothers me to no end that, in practice, what they ultimately mean is that half the performers who would have won an award just...won't), Take Care of My Friend is unpolished (and not in a "cool" way). It feels like a therapy session onstage. And, whereas Griffin starring in her own work last year felt like a smart call, here it feels like it's breaking the fourth wall in a slightly uncomfortable way. This piece either needed to be a full on dramatic narrative, or a one-woman show (either would have worked with the writer in the lead role.) But instead we get what feels a bit like a therapy session that WANTS to be a one person show that is very thinly disguised as a dramatic narrative.
The piece is autobiographical. Fletcher tells "her" (thinly disguised as someone else, but with no "drama" separating fact from fiction...why?) story of living with anxiety, depression and OCD. She is accompanied by an underused ensemble of five women who serve as a sort of Greek Chorus and to take on the roles of other people in Fletcher's life.
Fletcher's story is compelling, and it certainly elicits empathy. But, honestly, no more so than if Fletcher had given a talk about her experiences living with her condition. As a human experience it is important, but as a work of art, it doesn't soar.
I find in my reviews that, the more I like something the more detailed I get in its dissection - even if that dissection includes details that I think fall short. If I am noticing and critiquing the details of the props, lighting, nuances of dialogue, it means the piece made me care about it and I am frustrated by the elements that aren't as good as they clearly could have been. But when a piece isn't doing the important work in the first place it feels like a waste of everyone's time for me to delve into it too deeply. It's sort of like, for better or worse, those dance teachers who spend the most time giving corrections to the students they think have amazing potential. The ones they feel can't "make it" they, ironically, rarely criticize at all. I'm not saying that's the way it should be, but, at least from my vantage point, if I'm writing something, even on a small blog, that will be on the internet "forever", criticism either needs to be helpful feedback or it's just mean.
I hope that Filigree returns to the kind of work they did last season. Maybe it has something to do with the prejudice, I've found, in some regional theater communities against artists from "the big city". That's not to say there aren't brilliant artists everywhere in the world, but this particular view seems to be "I don't care if it's the best, or even solidly "good", if it's not "homegrown" I don't want it in my theater." Last season both Griffin and Stephenson were Broadway artists. This season there are none to be found. Is that inherently a bad thing? Absolutely not. But it is frustrating when you get "homegrown" and it is a fundamental disappointment. We should be doing the best work, regardless of where it came from (that extends to NYC taking chances on lesser known regional artists...) But all I can say is last year Filigree felt top of the theater game. This season it feels a bit...self indulgent.
Laura Sele
Take Care of My Friend is currently playing at the Hyde Park Theater, Austin, Tx
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