WHO’S NOT READY HOLLER I
nytheatre.com review by Dan Asher
August 15, 2003
Ever wished you had the power to just
disappear? Or maybe you would prefer the power to be a fly on the wall
of your boss’s office, or ex-lover’s bedroom. I always imagined, if I
was ever presented with a newly emancipated Genie’s three-wish offer,
that I’d use the first to stuff my wallet with cash, the second to drop
twenty un-wanted pounds forever, and beat the Genie at his or her own
game, by asking for three more wishes.The power to disappear wasn’t wished for, but is innate to Susanne, the main character in Who’s Not Ready Holler I, The Hunting Village Theatre Company’s contribution to the 2003 FringeNYC. The action takes place in and around Susanne’s basement workshop, possibly a metaphor for her subconscious, where she encounters different friends and family, at different times in her life. Inevitably the conversations all go awry, and at some point, Susanne pulls her disappearing act. It is not clear how or when she realized she could disappear.
Writer/director Peter Zablotsky fails to get his story or cast to make us understand why Susanne needs to disappear at these most tense and uncomfortable moments in her life. These are times when she has the most potential to clarify and strengthen relationships, and most importantly, to make some amazing, unforeseen, personal discovery. But Susanne uses her gift to cop out and flee the scene.
It is an interesting premise for a story. Uses for this, or any super human power, for good or evil, are endless, but they are largely unexplored in this piece. Instead we get Susanne… angry at the world, and unappreciative of her magical ability.
To the actors’ credit, their voices were not lost to the boundless space of the Washington Square United Methodist Church, but none of them managed to flesh out their characters enough to make me care where Susanne actually went when she disappeared.
