The Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater has be consistently producing interesting and quite good stuff this season. I read a little bit about The Few, written by Samuel D. Hunter and directed by Davis McCallum, in Time Out New York recently and then finally got around to see it last night.

About a man, Bryant, who abandoned his newspaper printed for truckers in Oregon, and a woman, QZ, he asked to marry him, four years prior when he comes back and asks for his answer (will you marry me or not?). The paper is totally different from how he left it and there’s a new person on the very small staff of two, Matthew (who is, of course, superbly awkward).

It was 95 minutes and I was only bored for one moment towards the end, when it seemed like there was nothing else to really happen anymore. The acting by Michael Laurence, Tasha Lawrence, and Gideon Glick were all spot-on, which is necessary when you have such a small cast. 

To be honest, this play is really depressing. But I also really enjoyed it. 

Advertisement

I’m seeing all three parts next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  I initially wanted to do all three parts in a day but this works too.  I’m excited beyond words.  These are what the three parts are about:

Part 1, Rose takes place on the evening of November 28th, 1953, the day following the death of Eugene O’Neill (directed by Rapp).

Part 2, Paraffin is set on the first evening of the 2003 New York City blackout (directed by Aukin).

Part 3, Nursing is set in 2053 in a disease-free New York when the tenement has been transformed into a museum where young men and women in need of cash are injected with old-fashioned diseases for the amusement of the public (directed by Cullman).

I wish I knew how Rapp came up with his ideas.