Fringe Festival — 4 out of 6 Plays Were Great!

Posted on August 27th, 2007 by Carlos

So this year I and my love attended six plays, all of which were part of the New York Fringe Festival. Had a blast; we absolutely heart Fringe. There is no place and time in New York when you can see so much daring, inventive and raw theater than you can during the two weeks in August when the Fringe Festival runs.

“Raw” is an important word here, though: at Fringe, you should expect to see some shows that aren’t quite at the polished-to-a-blindingly-brilliant-sheen level just yet. In fact, most shows could probably use an extra minute or two in one of those bowling-ball buffers (remember those things?). One of the reasons to perform your play at Fringe, in fact, is to figure out what needs to be revised about your show. And it works: as the Fringe web site will testify, Fringe shows have gone on to become award-winning productions and/or commercial successes.

And in the mean time, theater lovers can see writers and performances that lie well outside the chewed cud of mainstream theater. My favorite thing about Fringe is its daring, no-holds-barred attitude toward the art of the play. There are plays you will see that will NEVER become mainstream hits, that have no desire to be that. They want to be smart and cater to a dramaturgically-savvy audience, for instance. Or they want to tackle subject matter that a quorum of American theater-goers would never financially support. Or they want to experiment with language and form that they themselves aren’t quite sure about yet. Etc.: the point is, when you go to Fringe, you’re going to see theater at its generative tipping-point, when its still as skinless as the Visible Man, instructively displaying its inner organs — and beautiful in its own right as well.

We saw six plays total. Two of them were awful. And, forgive me, I’m not going to say which ones: my love and I have decided only to emphasize the positive when it comes to Fringe, in order to honor the risk-taking and creative spirit the festival embodies. But I will tell you about the four plays I felt were successes. Here they are, in the order in which I saw them:

Hillary Agonistes (the title is a hat-tip to John Milton and his Samson Agonistes) is a political fable in which President Hillary has to deal with the greatest mystery of modern times: why millions of people from all over the world have suddenly vanished. We hear from the military, the religious right, science, and the Catholic Church, all of whom offer the first woman president advice on how to deal with this catastrophe: and reveal in the mean time their own not-so-hidden agendas. Best moment of the play: when Chelsea Clinton comes onstage wearing a hijab.

This play was good grad. school fare — 516 is the story of a professional paper-writer and her Moonlighting-esque affair with a Mass. Comm. graduate student who thinks that writing papers for required courses is beneath him: especially given the importance and magnitude of his thesis. One minor gripe: I have to think the playwright hasn’t been involved with academia in a while, as the character of the professor had a few off-key notes that didn’t ring quote true. Still, great writing, great performances from the leads, and a peppy pace made this play time well spent.

Two middle-aged women pretend to be two old women and sell a special peanut butter that Vermonters are going nuts for. Its secret ingredient? Penises. Ahem.

Well written and funny, PB&J is darkly funny and, given its topic, surprisingly light-hearted. Like 516, I had a few minor gripes — slutty French maids, even when they’re French Canadian maids, are still cliché — but in all, this was a good time.

Tragedy! The Musical I think just edges out Hillary Agonistes as my favorite of the Fringe plays I saw this year. And part of it probably has to do with the fact that I had this exact idea for a musical back in 1996. Really, I swear! The story is a retelling of Shakespeare’s (arguably) worst play, Titus Andronicus. It’s really bad. But bad turns to great in this musical, full of sick humor, social commentary, and a terrific cast of mostly William and Mary graduates who did the right thing after they earned their degrees and put on a show together. Bravo, folks!

And bravo to all of the Fringe Festival. Next year, my love and I hope to hit a lot more shows.