Break Time

Swingset—The Rachel Browne Theatre

Golly gee—where do I start? The preshow music featured Kate Bush’s Babushka, which is a spectacular
song. Then the show started and it all went downhill fast.

At first, I thought the plot moved towards the dysfunctional relationship (or reliance) humankind (or perhaps this one human) has developed with technology and more recently, AI. Then it takes a wild carom towards the character being lonely and asking AI how to break out of the abyss of a single man desperate to seek a relationship. From there it deteriorates into an inexplicable session with his pillow, presumably representing his love idol, Brie Larson.

For some reason, the show takes an intermission where he asks inane questions of the audience and
passes out equally inane prizes for correct or incorrect answers.

The second half moves back to the relationship between him and the AI, where I thought it would end in a dystopian future where AI replaces the need for human companionship—but then it takes another irrational twist before mercifully coming to and end.

As a singer, he has a usable voice but he needs a few vocal lessons to sound professional. Right now, he sounds like a karaoke act, good enough to listen to for fun but not good enough to perform.

This show needs a lot of work, but foremost, it needs a cogent plot—establish what your underlying
statement is, then develop it.

The sock puppet skit also needs work. It’s fine to be minimalist, but then your puppets should have two googly eyes and a mouth, that’s it. If you want to be more elaborate, just get real puppets—save the money from the loony prizes and invest in actual puppets. Plus, a simple cardboard box can be a wonderful puppet theatre.

There’s a foundation for a good show to be built here. Perhaps use ONE of the concepts I suggested
earlier in the rant, and build on that. Stick to that theme and don’t carom off on tangents. The Brie Larson bit is just creepy and needs to go.

Kudos to the actor for calling out the jackass by the exit sign who played with his phone the entire show. Sadly his skin was so thick he didn’t listen.

Ray Yuen