Dr. Egg and the Production Needing a Better Script

Over the weekend I went to see Redmoon's Dr. Egg and the Man with No Ear. It's the first Redmoon show I've been able to catch, but their reputation precedes them. Great visual storytelling--the writing, not so much. But more on that in just a bit.

The first thing that became clear after the change in plans was I can't afford a lot of the theatre in Chicago. If it weren't for hottix, we wouldn't have been able to afford Dr. Egg either.

Visually the show was top-notch. I can't recall the last show I saw in Chicago that did a better job focusing all of the production elements--projections, sound and music, clowning, puppetry, etc.- into a cohesive whole. In general I'm not a big fans of projections. Often they are either done poorly, or just tacked on.

Dr. Egg does a great job combining everything into a single, unified, visual vocabulary and the interplay between actor, design, puppet and projection may be better than anything I've seen in Chicago. Every aspect of the show works on the same simple, yet elevated, plain to tell the story.

But the shell of the story is where it falls down. With all of the care and precision lathered on it, it's a shame that there wasn't a better text to keep up with the production. Dr. Egg has a so much theatrical skill wasted on such a slight text, it's a shame.

A while back, before spare time seemed to be a myth, I wrote about what I tend to look for in criticism. As I was going over the reviews for Dr. Egg, I realized that a good yet flawed production might be the best way to tell how good a critic is.

Three examples stuck out at me. In TimeOut Chicago, Chris Piatt gives it a rave. In the Reader, Kerry Reid says not so much. I kinda agree with both of them. Piatt speaks more about the production. Reid speaks more about the text. Both argue their viewpoints well.

On the other hand in the Sun-Times Hedy Weiss says something bordering on something. Ethical lapses aside, she's consistently the worst critic (or at least worst critic getting paid to write) in the city for her (lack of) writing.

Her review of Dr. Egg is a perfect example of her typical lazy formula. Possibly related anecdote, plot summary, plot summary, plot summary, mention a few names from cast and crew, maybe squeeze in a sentence or two bordering on analysis.

Hilton Als writes some asinine things, but he at least takes a stance. With so many critics handcuffed with 150 words, 250 words etc, it's a shame Weiss regularly wastes so many in a daily.

Read more: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/JayRaskolnikov/~3/400006973/dr-egg-and-production-needing-better.html