Paradise Park

by Charles Mee
Signature Theater Company

I walked out thinking I wouldn't be moved by the play, that I would never think about it again, but I just can't get Mee's plays out of my head after I've seen them. He's really brilliant in that he's able to say so much on so many levels. His point is hidden, but present, but there are more treasures buried for you to find as you think about it.

I have to be honest. I saw this the first night it opened for previews. And, it opened late from what I understand. It opened two days late because they were having problems with the set (rumor has it). That may have been true, but it wasn't the smoothest night to see such a complicated play. It went off without any major disasters and I think that's tremendous, but it had a little way to go--it's probably there by now. Problem areas were minor the night I saw it: dancing wasn't smooth, people were a little afraid to inflate one of the elements of the set, it was difficult to roller skate around a humongous pile of Superman dolls--you know the usual problems you'd experience in a Charles Mee play.

So, what happened? What was it about? It was about escape and the bizarre ways we seek to obtain escape. It was about the dangers of making escape a permanent reality, instead of using it as a temporary relief. And, in great, beautiful irony--this complicated play reaches theater lovers who regularly escape reality as audience members in theaters around New York and who are apparently, if they are watching a Charles Mee play, are seeking ever more bizarre and experimental forms of escape. Ah, the irony.

Paradise Park is set in a Coney Island-like amusement park where people go to escape, but somehow end up staying because they find themselves rather comfortable in it. And, there is a very real physicality to some of the characters' escapes. One of the characters is dressed as a mouse (what ever could that be a parody of, Disney, perhaps?), one is on roller skates, one is alternatively trying out several different costumes including hardcore Europe lover to fairy. And, then we have parents are trying to raise a child in this environment after literally losing another child to mental illness. While they are close to the heart of the play, the story is told from the perspective of a newcomer who falls for the girl on roller skates.

Paradise Park is nothing if not replete with fruitcake tossing (much like pie tossing, bizarre either way), a bumper car, prize stuffed superheros, a real hose drenching, submersion in fruit punch, a cotton candy making scene that almost scares you a little bit, and other carnival paraphernalia--all of it is a little bit creepy and a little bit rundown. This keeps the escape at a distance for the audience and exposes it a bit more for what it is--bizarre behavior that has been somehow implanted in our culture long enough and fully enough to be considered normal when it's clearly anything but.

The turning point in the play comes when the scariest pizza delivery man ever shows up with a pizza they didn't order--driving home the point that danger and reality exist everywhere, even in paradise parks. There is no escape. And, isn't it all just really weird anyhow?

How exactly do we define fun? And, what makes a man dressed up as a mouse fun? And, why do we tell our children that this is something delightful, something we should strive for? What's fun about routine food throwing? What exactly is "fun," anyway? And, do we need to escape? Does escape exist?

Don't you just love plays that leave you with questions and not answers? I do.

Thank you to Charles Mee for more great theater. It was a bit hard to take. This was a bit creepy and rough around the edges, not like Iphigenia--all smooth and beautiful and heart-breaking. I left the theater, not liking it, but liking it the more I think about it. And, the more I talk about it. It's very easy to bring up in conversation and try to explain to others.

So, $20 and it's yours for the first six weeks of its run. Go, try and enjoy. Try and escape to that creepy place called Paradise Park and the messy, physical experience that is a Mee play. You have to love, though, how all the walls and the ceiling and the air and every body part is used in his plays. They are full experience, use-up-all-the-air-in-the-room plays. The more I think about this, the more I think you should see it.

One word of caution, though, besides the creep-out factor. This isn't entry level theater. This is closer to experimental theater and I would be very surprised if it's for everyone. Think about where you are on the theater scale and what your tolerance level is for complicated, weird theater. You know where you fall. If you want something that's going to make you think, something that's a bit disturbing, go. You'll enjoy.