FringeNYC 2013: Monocular Man

Review by David Koteles · August 11, 2013

R. Jim Stahl is a natural storyteller. Monocular Man: Story of a One-Eyed Son is his autobiographical monologue presented simply, much as Spalding Gray might have staged it: with a desk, a glass of water and a chalkboard. Tall, handsome, academic-looking and, yes, one-eyed, Stahl is a former high school English teacher and a short story writer. It’s clear he doesn’t really feel comfortable performing, and that has a certain charm at first. He’s unpretentious and clearly his own man, and that makes him quite likable.

However, this isn’t a Barnes and Noble book reading, and soon his inability to own the stage becomes more of a hindrance than a folksy mannerism. Spalding Gray didn’t seem completely comfortable in front of an audience either, but he did command our attention and he did seem to be in charge of the show. Fortunately, Stahl’s life story is fairly interesting and that holds our interest. He tells us how he came from a broken home, how as a young man he was beat up after school and longed for women, how he was sharply influenced by his large African American maid and her gentle husband, and how at 13 he lost his left eye playing with a firecracker stuffed into a model of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. His rich language is clearly a gift, and his meandering style of storytelling often leads to deep pockets of humor and insight. There’s an honesty to the show, and not in a self-indulgent way we’ve come to expect in one-person showcases, but in a sweet way that makes us eager to join Stahl on his journey. You just wish the journey was a little more focused and crisp.

The stories seem rife with subtle symbolism—blindness comes to mind--which I’m sure are made clear in the short stories this show is based on, but here the connections feel missed. And while each anecdote has merit, together they somehow don’t add up to enough. According to the program there are eight stories, however they seem somewhat indiscernible, and I’m not sure when a few of them ended and others began. Although between a couple of stories, Stahl plays his own rock compositions on an instrument that looks like an electric ukulele. When he’s playing his music—Ah!—Stahl is finally at home. He seems relaxed and happy to be showing off to a group of strangers. Also, it’s worth mentioning that his instrumental music is quite good.

Clearly Stahl has talent and a tale to tell. I hope with time he feels comfortable on stage and is able to craft his show into one cohesive piece of theatre. Perhaps director Kate Lohman, a playwright herself, can reign in Stahl’s disjointed stories into an overarching narrative and help him with his delivery. I truly hope they develop this piece further, I think there’s a yarn here people would want to hear and Stahl is an eloquent and poetic writer. He was miked during the show, which seemed wholly unnecessary, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the connection between Stahl and his audience would be stronger without amplification. The man is an English teacher after all speaking to a small house in a basement theatre, not a rockstar.