Missing the Play

So I'm missing my high school's Fall Play. It sucks, but I filled the theatrical hole with some plays at OU. The first was a second viewing of The Wonderful World of Dissocia. I never got to writing a post about it after I saw it the first time, so I'll write about it now. The Wonderful World of Dissocia follows Lisa Montgomery Jones as she takes a trip into the world of Dissocia in order to find her lost hour. She calls a number her watch repairer gave her, and suddenly her flat turns into an elevator that goes up, down, and sideways. She comes across a pair of Insecurity Guards, must take an oath with the Oathtaker who constantly spits oatmeal cookies, plays in a field of light circles that make sounds, is almost raped by a Scapegoat, fights the Black Dog King's supporters using bombs that leave animal shapes, meets a cavalcade of characters at a hot dog stand that doubles as a lost & found office, finds out she is the lost queen of Dissocia and her hour actually created the world, and encounters the Black Dog King. That was the first act. The second act brings Lisa back to the real world. After her episode, she spends the rest of the play in a hospital room. Nurses funnel in and out, making sure she takes her pills. Relatives visit. She has a tense visit from her boyfriend Vince. The play ends with her looking out the window. It's very sad, and yet it's also a little hopeful. Even though she lost her crazy, lewd, fantasy world, there is an implication that things will get better.

The second play I saw was a student's one-act adaption of Hemingway's short story, "Hills Like White Elephants." If you do not know or have not read the short story, then I suggest you acquaint yourself with it. It's a fantastically simple look at a relationship where the persons involved don't communicate. The student took an interpretative approach, making gestures important. I applaud him, but I found the gestures very random and distracting. In the beginning, a song played and the three actors entered the stage area by following the beats of the music. It was very strange. I found it slightly unnecessary and rather boring to watch, even when the couple did a sort of dance with each other. I love the shorty story, I liked the play. I would have loved it had the gestures emphasis not been there. The actor and two actresses did a superb job. They really brought the story to life. However, I just can't get over those gestures. At times they were very robotic, and other times they were just flailing about. The gestures were supposed to say what the couple could not say to each other. The only thing it communicated to me was a pointless attempt at trying to make something better by making it different. Once again, I applaud the student for trying, but I encourage him to rethink the necessity of the gestures. I do recommend that he spearhead a transformation of Hemingway short stories into a skit-play.