R. And I went to see Rogue’s presentation of Neil Labute’s ‘Some Girl’s at the Pumphouse last night. I have to admit I was going in with low expectations. The last production I saw at the Pumphouse was sub-par, R. called it pretty awful. I was hoping that this production would be okay.
I was in for a treat. Rogue theater was diligent in picking their actors and making the play poignant and effective. Labute’s play is not his most heart wrenching (for that check out In the Company of Men or The Shape of Things) but I must admit that there were time when I wanted to strangle the male character. Labute has an uncanny way of creating characters that are so despicable that you wind up feeling terrible after his plays, in this incredibly morbid way.
‘Some Girls’ is a play about a man about to get married, so he is flying to many places across America to find his old girlfriends.
There is so much truth that rings in this play. Like with the first ex girlfriend who wants the name of the girl (just tell me what page of the yearbook she is on!) who was better than her. Even if she is married with children. It’s like someone mentions a boy you used to know and you’re back there again.
And with the last girl in the play, the one that I thought was the most intense of the four, that in the end still has this shred of empathy for him. Like it is beyond her to accept that the carnage of his past is his apathy to anyone’s feelings. And the real reason he is trying to ‘wrong a right’ is entirely so he can feel better about himself. It isn’t a selfless act.
And one last comment, with a play that is this morose and a little bit deranged why are so many people laughing? Like at the scene where I’m fearing rape, you’re laughing? Why?
Oh and the Pumphouse atmosphere is interrupted more than periodically by the sound of the train passing by. If the play is good enough you don’t even hear it.
Some Girls runs at the Pumphouse until Saturday, so there is not much time to see it!
It flies under the radar but it is worth the trip.