Stage Kiss

Goodman Theater
by Sarah Ruhl

This play is the reason I almost forgot I had a blog. I saw this very soon after Will Eno's play and was going to post them both, but then this one just blanked out my mind completely because it was so, just, well, I don't know - it gave me so little to work with, in some ways it was so bland, so overworked, so underworked, so, so, so...

Chicago has tons of theaters. And, it has at least two big games in town: Goodman and Steppenwolf. When I say it has two big games, I mean it has two theaters big enough to consider sending things to Broadway when they finish with them. Anything else would need a more circuitous route, a few more houses, a lot more buzz. Goodman got Chinglish out of here this fall, I think. Steppenwolf sent Osage County a few years ago.

I didn't see Chinglish. Wish I did. It was apparently their highlight of the season.

Stage Kiss was closer to farce. And, anyone who knows me well knows it's just not my favorite. Heavily choreographed, impeccable timing, slightly slapstick humor - it just doesn't do it for me. Even when it's done well.

Sarah Ruhl is a pretty big deal in theater circles right now. I've seen her name plenty and her plays are getting pretty good runs and reviews in very respectable places. This is the first time I've seen a play by her.

And, this is the best I can say about this play - it was like one of those watches with a clear face and back. At least it was for me. The clock is intricate and complicated and has moving parts. And, you are excited to see it through the glass or plastic. But, the more you look at it, sort of the less you see and you actually get bored trying to figure it all out. Even though it is elegant and trim and works. Yes, that's exactly how I felt about this play.

It was intricately woven, structurally it actually worked, but at the end...so what? The plot line, what I remember of it was simple. Two actors (actor and actress, actually) who were romantically involved in the past come back together when they are cast in a play together. They both have significant others, but can't resist getting together one more time. They rehash their entire first relationship and remember why they fell out of love the first time. And, the actress is reunited with her family in the end. That's pretty much the basics and it is sort of a cute premise, I guess.

It was just so tedious, that's the word I was looking for. Every idea was followed to its conclusion and you had to be there the whole way. We didn't get to skip steps. This wasn't hopscotch. You knew where it was going, it went there and then you were done.

So, suffice it to say when the Goodman called to ask if I wanted to subscribe I said, "Let's wait and see." We're not ready for that sort of relationship, yet. I'll definitely give the theater another chance, and we'll see... It was expensive theater with good actors, but it didn't have a real point and this play didn't disperse a whole lot of truth about the world. And, I guess that's what I go to the theater for - to discover things that are true: in me, in the world, in others. And, when you don't get that - it just seems like you are wasting my time. Like the Eno play I saw a week earlier than this - I go out into the world to try and connect. And, Stage Kiss was something cute and overwrought and ultimately a little boring.

It was a first date with the Goodman. But, I read a quote from a matchmaker years ago - the first date is never as telling as the second. Always go out on the second date if you are serious about making a match. That's when you start to actually learn about what someone is about. We'll try again. Wish it had been Chinglish.