THE WORKING WEEK AND SUNDAY REST
nytheatre.com review by Tim Douglas Jensen
August 15, 2003
The Working Week and Sunday Rest, written by Micah Brown
Logsdon and produced by The Kentucky Theatre Collective, is a
collection of seven short scenes mostly about people recalling
the past.The production is dominated by monologues and the two-person scenes are primarily monologue-driven, with the exception of the final scene, "Sunday," about a womanizer and his guardian angel. The only link among the seven stories is the title (the pieces start with "Moonday", a woman’s monologue to God and the moon, and end with "Sunday"), which is not strong enough to make the overall production cohesive.
Writing and performing monologues can be difficult. Too much recalling of the past and not enough present-time action can lose an audience. Unfortunately that is the case with this production, and since none of the characters ever talks directly to the audience I felt like an indifferent observer. That being said, Logsdon’s writing has great possibilities. It is believable and actable. One scene, "Time Capsule," is particularly engaging and more of an exploration of the past rather than a talky retelling of it.
Special mention should be made of actor James Hamblin whose performance was forced to endure an insensitive audience member who not only neglected to turn his cell phone off but decided to answer the call as well.
Perhaps producers are going to have to start reminding audiences that they are watching live actors and not television.
