PRESS RELEASE:
“Haven’t you noticed that what you expect is what doesn’t happen, and that what can’t be is precisely what is?” The question of how improbable life is, generally and as regards our individual lives, is raised by two different characters at two different times and drives Magnetic Theatre Artistic Director Steven Samuels’ new “unlikely comedy,” The Improbables. “I mean, if all you can think of is what’s possible or probable, your thinking’s too small for all we know there is! Impossible creatures who live on the ocean’s deepest floor! Molecules that can only form at the farthest reaches of interstellar space! That my body’s so filled with bacteria, there’s more of them than me! Come on! Not possible! But true!”
The Magnetic Theatre’s 42nd world premiere (the 7th Samuels has written, the 5th in which he’s appeared, and the 24th he’s directed) is set in the wreck of a mansion on a mountain in Asheville, and brings together unlikely characters in unlikely circumstances. In the case of two of them—a mysterious young woman named Miranda DeSoto and an even more mysterious older man who calls himself Captain—who they really are and what they’re really doing shifts moment by moment, making mincemeat of the mind of poor Wayne Dubrisky, an accountant who’s hit hard times and thinks he’s just come up the mountain to interview for a job.
Working in a mode more Absurdist than farce (with hints of Beckett, Pinter, Ionesco, and Genet), Samuels says he “set out to surprise myself, and therefore the audience, line by line—which means that to say more would be to say too much. But this comedy touches on questions of identity, sexuality, violence, the environment, the economy, and politics, and it’s informed by Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. It demands bravura acting,” which Samuels hopes to deliver as the Captain, along with Montford Park Players’ veteran Art Moore playing Wayne (his second appearance with The Magnetic), and the remarkable Hallee Hirsh portraying Miranda. (Making her Magnetic debut, Hirsh has appeared professionally since age 3 in film and television. Credits include You’ve Got Mail, Law & Order, Malcolm in the Middle, Six Feet Under, Will & Grace, JAG, Grey’s Anatomy, and ER.)
The Magnetic Theatre presents The Improbables (An Unlikely Comedy), written and directed by Steven Samuels. Starring Hallee Hirsh, Art Moore, and Steven Samuels. Lighting by Jason Williams. Portrait by Chon Vinson. Stage management by Caitlin Lane. At Magnetic 375 (375 Depot Street in the River Arts District). Low-priced previews March 17 & 18. Opening night March 19. Continues Thursdays-Saturdays, March 24-April 9. All performances at 7:30 PM. Previews $16 online/$19 at the door. All other performances $21 online/$24 at the door. $10 student rush tickets available 15 minutes before curtain with valid I.D. Tickets and info: www.themagnetictheatre.org. Info only: 828.239.9250.
Let me preface this by saying that I am a HUGE fan of Magnetic Theater. Prior to this play, I have only once been disappointed by a show there, and that was not one of theirs but part of the Fringe Fest, which I will admit is probably not my thing.
Having said that, this play was so bad that if I am tempted to ask for my money back.
First (and most importantly) this was supposed to be a comedy. With very few and very brief exceptions, it was not at all funny, not even darkly.
It was the second act that bothered me most, as it consisted almost entirely of Writer/Director/Actor Stephen Samuels listing every unfortunate political event since the Eisenhower administration, implying that his character was personally involved, but skimping on the specifics. This tedious monologue did have a point, but could have been accomplished without such a long-winded and commentary-laden history lesson. Most of us lived through all of this, too, you know?
My sympathies for actor Art Moore, who had to spend this entire, dreadful and prolonged diatribe (it felt like 30 minutes) strapped into a wheel chair while making faces and with minimal dialogue.
The end dialogue by former TV actress Hallee Hirsh was almost as bad, albeit mercifully briefer. Her character, Miranda, shamelessly assumed characteristics right out of Hirsh’s playbill biography, i.e. lives in a yurt and farms organically and, thanks to several years living in China, speaks Chinese fluently. I guess I was supposed to be impressed. If this was Samuels’ idea, then she was poorly advised. If not, then what did those many years of professional acting teach her?
Good plays are about originality. This one was just an excuse to bare the actors’ own egos, conceits and biases on stage. If it had been funny, maybe this would be justifiable. But it wasn’t, so it isn’t.
As much as enjoy Magnetic Theater, this show is not worth the ticket price.