THE COMEUPPANCE ATSignatureTheatre

 THE COMEUPPANCE

By

Branden Jacobs- Jenkins

Directed by Eric Ting.

THE COMEUPPANCE is a play about a group of old high school friends who gather together to pregame before their 20th reunion. The setting is a suburban porch of the house of Ursula (Brittany Bradford) who has lived there all her life with her grand mother who recently passed away and Ursula herself is not very well with a patch on one of her eye because of the loss of her vision. She suffers from Diabetes.

The first person to arrive is Emilio (Caleb Eberhardt) a successful artis who has moved to Berlin and is back not only for the high school reunion but for the Biennial at the Whitney museum. Ursula and Emilio get a bit high drinking Jungle juice. The next friend to arrive at the scene is Caitlin (Susannah Flood ) who married a man much older than herself, we are told trhat he was present at the 6th January protest in Washington DC. Then comes Kristina accompined by her cousin Francisco (Bobby Moreno) who dated Caitlin in school and then joined millatry service to become a marine. He suffers from post traumatic syndrom and trauma. Kristin is a doctor and has five children and is over worked from the year of Pandemic which is having a toll on her. Emilo somehow is very angry at all of them in an arrogant manner. He pokes and make abusive remarks towards all of them for making the wrong choices in their lives. He doesn't spare any one of them. He comes across as the most unfulfilled person even when he is supposedly the most productive and successful. His bitterness is poisonous.

Actually he is angry at everyone of them and esecially at life itself and blame them for choosing wrong poartners and making unhealthy choices. There is lot of mention of death and not only death is being reffered to but actually present.  Death has occupied everyone's soul and speaks to the audience directly one by one starting with Emilo first. He faces the audience and become death. His voice changes echoed by sound effects which makes the words some how inaudible. In the beginning I didn't get it. I thought he was doing a soliloquie in a different tone of voice but got it eventually since all the characters at times became death one by one. Also there is a of mention of death in the play. 20 years ago when they were students, they experience the trauma of Columbine, the Sept 11, now Pandemic, Even Trump is mentioned. I guess Trump is also one of the major trauma of Millennials The play is very much about the angst, trauma,  and all the dreams of a grand life promised in high school has been turned into nightmarish halluciations of death. 

The play is very long and the topic of death is persistent. It becomes a bit tiring and disappointingly repititious.  The one of the best performance is goiven by Caleb Eberhardt who is exteremly bold and un-inhibited in his horrendous sarcasm. Brittany Bradford is also solid in her frequent silences. Shannon Tyo is a bit over the top.  Bobby Moreno has the toughest role and he delivers. The last scene between Emilio and Ursula is very poignant. Extremely intelligent writing.

REVIEW 

By 

BINA SHARIF

ATCA

Editor/Publisher of artsinternational.blogspot.com

Email: binashariff@gmail.com

mobile: 212-260-6207

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WET BRAIN, A CO-PRODUCTION OF PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZON AND MCC THEATER

 WET BRAIN By John J. Caswell, Jr

Directed by Dustin Wills

WET BRAIN is a play about addiction and a dysfunctional family.

The father Joe ( Julio Monge) is at the verge of death, poisoned by alcohol, incapacitated, stumbles and has lost the power of speech. He vomits everywhere and uses a few corners in the main room to urinate. He is perhaps an alien too, not so clear though but his children have a vague memory of him  taking them to the roof and looking for a star or want to be aducted by aliens.

He has three grown up children, daughter Angelina ( Ceci Fernandez)  son,  Ron (Frankie J. Alvarez) and Ricky ( Arturo Luis, Soria) Ricky is gay and Ron is an awful homophobe. Ricky has left this horror house to escape to NY and after six years of absence has returned to the family home in Arizona where the sister Angelina is the one who takes care of the father while studying to be a nurse. Ron helps the father more than any one else and is very angry about it and takes it out on Ricky. They are all very abusive towards each other and use extremely vulgar and horrific language. Angelina wants to move out and want Ricky or Ron to be the care takers of the very sick father. Ricky is not ready for that and there is a reference of him being abused  the most by his father who was also a homophobe.a homophobe.

They have lost  their mother Mona (Florencia Lozano) also.  In a brilliantly designed scene in the middle of the play Mona is alive and she and Joe can talk and the siblings confront them. 

The play is quite confusing sometime especially about the Aliens coming in and abducting the father, it's all metaphorical perhaps but not very clear. Some funny lines make people laugh but it's more like a horror show with the most tragically dysfunctional family. The siblings also suffer from addictions of various kinds. It's very bold of the playwright to write this play admitting in a note that his family have the histoiry of addiction.

The play is competently directed by Dustin Wills.  The set by Kate Noll,  sound by Tei Blow and John Gasper and lights by Cha See are most effective. The play is quite disturbing. No one wants to have a family like this one but maybe it's a stark lesson to avoid all kinds of addictions.

REVIEW BY

BINA SHARIF

ATCA

Editor/Publisher: artsinternational.blogspot.com

email:binashariff@gmail.com

Mobile: 212-260-6207

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