52 Pick Up
theater simple @ The Little Theatre
2:00pm, Wed 6 Mar 2002
Score: 10
Short Review: Funny & Familiar
Yep, it’s another theater simple show, and I’m going to go raving once again about how wonderful I think they are, how great the show is, and how you should all go and check this out.
Simple premise: 52 scenes, covering a relationship from beginning to …(?). Each scene is represented by a playing card in a deck. At the beginning of the piece, the cards are shuffled, then tossed into the air; cards are then selected at random and acted out until the deck has been collected, thus playing the relationship out in a random order.
Sounds simple – and it works brilliantly well. The scenes themselves vary in length, from the two-liners to monologues to more detailed conversations. And, due to the random nature of the scene selection, very odd mood swings are possible – and the audience often holds its collective breath as the next card is selected.
The performances? hey, it’s Andrew & Llysa, they could make any script look good. However, the strength of the 52 “scriptlets” is also exceptional – Rita Bozi and TJ Dawe (yes, he of Labrador and Tired Cliches fame) have compiled snippets that are instantly familiar.
And so, with more cheer in my heart, I command all those who are in, or have ever been in, a relationship to go see this show. Seriously. You won’t regret it. And for those sad souls whose sole relationship has been with an invisible friend called Trevor, get along and see this show anyway. You’ll experience all the bliss, angst, fun and uncertainty that comes from the real thing.