February has been dreary so far...

Although I'm looking forward to seeing "Blackbird,"  Lucas Hnath's "Red Speedo" at NYTW and Trevor Nunn's production of "Pericles" at Theatre for a New Audience in the next couple of weeks, I sadly have to post that so far this month the plays I have seen have been less than stellar, ranging from confused to derivative to tired.

I had been looking forward to seeing Lee Waters' production of "The Glory of the World" by Charles Mee about the poet monk Thomas Merton. But how exactly did they come up with the idea of honoring Merton by having a large group of gay men throw him a birthday party?  Am I missing something about Merton here?  The program notes say that this "raucous" party would have been an event that Merton would have enjoyed.  How?  What does a group of gay men spouting pop culture references and trashing the stage have to do with a man who lived for 27 years in a Kentucky monastery and purportedly fathered an illegitimate child? The play is bookended by an actor playing Merton with his back to the audience typing away, his words projected on scrims on at the back of the stage.  This is at first visually interesting but it goes on long enough to become extremely tedious. Fun fact: Merton died at age 53 in Bangkok, while attending an interfaith conference between Catholic and non-catholic Christian monks.  He was accidentally electrocuted by an electric fan while stepping out of his bath.

The less said about "Straight" at the Acorn Theatre the better.   Did we really need another mediocre play about a young man coming out of the closet (or not)?  In our age of fluid sexuality there is nothing shocking about his situation.  If anything, the play feels dated and, with the exception of a very nuanced performance by Thomas E. Sullivan, the acting is not notable. The play, by Scott Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola (It took two to write this? Really?), has a sit-com feel especially given that the entire action of the play takes place on a couch in what looks like the set of "Three's Company".  Director Andy Sandberg does an admirable job of making do.

In the category "I should have know better," Bill Irwin and and David Shiner's evening of mime "Old Hats" at The Signature failed to please or amuse.... enough.  There were a few entertaining moments, most notable a magic show and film set which both incorporated audience participation, but overall a little bit goes a long way.  I also found the singer Shaina Taub whose songs are interspersed throughout the show to be somewhat insufferable.  Her band, on the other hand, was extremely hip and far to cool for the venue or the show.  Tina Landau, who has directed several Chuck (read Charles) Mee plays as well as the Brother/Sister plays at the Public was obviously out of her element here.  One strain of my family comes from vaudeville and I'm sorry to say that I don't think this would have cut it with them.

Belinda McKeon comes to the Irish Arts Center

I'm excited to be going to the Irish Arts Center on February 16th at 7:30 hear novelist and playwright Belinda McKeon read from her new book Tender, called "insanely beautiful" by Bustle.  Her debut novel Solace was voted Irish Book of the Year in 2011 and won the 2011 Faber Prize.  You may have read her essays in The New York Times, The Guardian and The New Yorker.  And she lives in Brooklyn, folks!

For more info go to http://www.irishartscenter.org//literature.html.