The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill, Vol. 2 – Location, Tickets, Reviews
The New York Neo-Futurists are reprising the innovative concept behind their Drama Desk Award nominated production The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill, Volume 1: Early Plays/Lost Plays, and bringing Volume 2 to the stage. Volume 2 was also recently nominated for a 2014 Drama Desk Award (winners will be announced June 1, 2014).
The concept is surprisingly simple: O’Neill’s plays are filled with elaborate stage directions, often ignored or reinterpreted by directors. In contrast, the Neos are staging only the stage directions, as literally as possible, and abandoning dialogue and plot progression. Four cast members physically act the directions and descriptions read by the narrator sitting with them on stage. The result is a crazy physical comedy.
Volume 2 contains the stage directions of four short plays O’Neill wrote between 1913 and 1915: Recklessness, Warnings, Fog, Abortion, and The Sniper.
Maxamoo
The contrast between O’Neill’s tragic dramas in their original form and the Neos’ comic interpretation of his stage directions is striking. Volume 2 is a hilarious show. By extracting this often overlooked element of plays, the Neo’s lovingly poke fun at O’Neill’s detailed descriptions and his perfectionism, describing micro-movements and facial features. The absence of humor from the final segment, The Sniper – performed as a drama rather than a physical comedy, makes it the weakest of the bunch. It demonstrates the diversity of the material but otherwise does little to contribute to the evening’s experience. The modular stage, consisting of many objects such as clocks, chairs, and books, is both aesthetically pleasing and functional. Volume 2 is an entertaining production that successfully reprises a unique concept.
Public Opinion
Have you seen The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill, Vol. 2? What did you think? Comment below or tweet us at @maxamoo.
Critics’ Reviews
New York Times
A Shot. A Man Falls, Clutching His Chest … Etc.
Exeunt Magazine
[T]heir return to the task of performing O’Neill’s early one-acts, sans dialogue, inVolume 2, has little to recommend it.
Time Out New York
The watcher’s joy may gradually diminish over the piece’s short duration, despite director-deviser Christopher Loar’s pivot toward a genuinely moving sequence in The Sniper
New York Theatre Review
The company has taken five early plays by O’Neill and stripped them of almost all dialogue, leaving just the stage directions to lead the audience through the story: surprisingly this is more than enough to give the audience a hilarious and moving night of theater.
Stage and Cinema
Now Show Me How to Chew It
TICKETS
$25 (click here for tickets)
DATES
Performances through May 11, 2014
LOCATION
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue
New York City
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RUNNING TIME
1 hour 25 minutes, no intermission
CAST & CREW
(official list)
Written by Eugene O’Neill
Adapted and directed by Christopher Loar
Featuring Cecil Baldwin, Christopher Borg, Roberta Colindrez, Cara Francis, Dylan Marron, Martina Potratz