S73 - The Minutes - 8m/3w
This scathing new comedy about small-town politics and real-world power, from the author of August: Osage County, exposes the ugliness behind some of our most closely-held American narratives while asking each of us what we would do to keep from becoming history’s losers.
Labels: comedy, contemporary
posted by Larisa at 11:26 AM
6 Comments:
This was an interesting read. It reminds me of Gloria in that its a satirization of modern business and political systems from within, and has a surprise, violent twist. I like other works I have read by this playwright. That being said, I prefer Gloria to this work. The fact that the entire play takes place in one meeting is cool, but I wish there had been better pacing and a better balance of dialogue to action.
I found this to be hilarious and such a wonderful spoof on council meetings. Other than Carp's long reading of the Battle, I loved it!
I enjoyed this script, dark and satirical, very relevant and timely, good characters. It gets weird - which I generally like. However, I wish the reveal at the end were handled a bit better - the long monologue is difficult. I think the arc of the story fell a bit flat just because of the pacing of that. Maybe it was just because I could very clearly see and hear the rest of the play, but struggled with that bit.
I was really enjoying the intro to this play so after the first few pages I watched some YouTube videos that looked very promising, and I was looking forward to reading more. Having participated in many similar business meetings I recognized much of the frustration as topics are derailed and irrational conflicts arise, and I was enjoying the spoof. But then it started getting awkward. I certainly understand the intended context of that awkwardness - that it is really what the play is about. But it kept getting more and more awkward. It felt as though much of it was just in bad taste, even if the bad taste was simply the play being cautionary about who "we" are, with "we" being white people. I am wondering what Native people would feel about it. Perhaps Brian Joyce would give us his opinion. Perhaps it would be more palatable if the long story of what happened back in the 1800s was actually delivered by a Native woman instead of Carp.
But I hated the ending. Frankly, I was surprised to read "End of Play" instead of "End of Act." It felt as though there should be another act. I wanted a clearer resolution. So it's a no for me.
Not a big fan. Awkward is a good word for it and disliked the ending. No for me.
I dislike the ending as well Jim. I think that is the point. I have concerns regarding movement and am worried about the staging being to set (much like the concerns for The Book Club Play - that I think we rocked). I think this is a powerful piece and it will be on my list of top 10 - that being said... I think it is not a script to go out to the full pool and I would only support this going out to a select group of directors (Joyce, Washington - perhaps reaching out to Sara Pillatzki Warzaha).
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