“Bang Bang You’re Dead” at the New York International Fringe Festival at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre
“Bang Bang You’re Dead” at the New York International Fringe Festival at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre Written by William Mastrosimone Directed by Ralph Colombino and Dan Cooley Reviewed by David Roberts and Joseph Verlezza Theatre Reviews Limited
Bang Bang You're Dead is a one act play written by William Mastrosimone in 1999 to raise awareness of school violence and its causes and “see tragedy before it happens." According to Mastrosimone, it “is a drama to be performed by kids, for kids.” In the capable hands of the Actors Playground School of Theatre since 2008, the play continues to be “an effective vehicle for combating violence in public schools and a catalyst in preventing teen suicide.”
Mr. Mastrosimone’s script deals with the conflicts in the life of teenager Josh whose inner conflicts and the conflicts with his parents and peers leads him to murder both parents and five of his high school classmates including his ex-girlfriend and the boy she leaves him for. Like many young serial killers, Josh lives daily with multiple stressors from home, school and self and experiences a pain that “eats [his] heart, a heart that nobody knows.” This isolation engenders a crisis in identity pushing Josh “to his limit.” Identifying potential killers is extremely difficult: it is problematic to know which of our seemingly normal children is “hearing voices in their heads.”
“Bang Bang You’re Dead” allows Josh to hear the voices of his victims: he hears the “why me” and the “what I will miss” cacophony from the peers he shot dead. As a result, he “hates being alive and is afraid of being dead.” The well-crafted script invites the audience to confront and consider the complexities of Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Newtown massacres. Although Josh’s regret and the regret of other serial killers contain powerful psychological vectors, regret will not in itself stop bullying and its consequences for the living or for the dead. This production will go a long way to continue the conversation with its informed and attentive audiences.
With intelligence and sincere resolution, the ensemble cast displays extreme energy and unparalleled commitment to a script that tackles important issues. They are well disciplined and exude a quality of young professionalism that clearly spills from the stage. The constructive criticism would be that the vocal and emotional level never arcs and stays the same throughout the performance, loud and angry, almost never fluctuating. Also the constant movement without motivation destroys the focus of intense emotional scenes and causes confusion, sometimes fracturing character delineation. There is exceptional effort but flippant and poor execution. Toning down the action with a subtle approach to reaction in some scenes might produce more meaningful results.
All in all, kudos to a young and devoted company with hearts that fill the stage with unequivocal concern and emotion for a tragic problem that all too often surfaces in communities throughout this country.
BANG BANG YOU’RE DEAD
“Bang Bang You’re Dead” is presented by The New York International Fringe Festival and the Actors Playground School of Theatre at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre, 45 Bleecker Street (at Lafayette Street).
All performances of “Bang Bang You’re Dead” take place at on the following schedule: Saturday August 17th at 5:00 p.m. and Sunday August 18th at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $18.00 at the door and $15.00 for advance purchase. The running time is 1 hour and 15 minutes. For more information about the show and the cast and creative team, please visit www.actorsplay.com/PTP/BBYD For more information about the 17th Annual New York Fringe Festival visit www.FringeNYC.org.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Saturday, August 17, 2013
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