Reckless

Reckless by Craig Lucas is a play that is part farce, part social criticism, and part personal memoir. Also it is a seasonal play because the plot advances through a series of Christmases.

The memoir is that Craig's life influences parts of the story. He interjects his life into the story of the children that the lead character, Rachel.

The farce is the personality of Rachel. She is a hyperactive bubbly personality that hits life at full speed. Just trying to keep up with is funny. The play starts with her husband telling her that he had taken a contract on her life forcing her to flee into the winter night.

Finally, the social criticism is of the television staples: Game shows and Talk shows. They both are presented as being superficial and exploitative. Also NGO's (Non-governmental Organizations) are presented as money hungry groups, that really have no idea of their financial situation.

The play was a fairly nice evening. The actors all were good in their parts. However, the play itself was unfocused. If it had take on only one or two of the threads in the plot, it would have been better.

House of the Spirits

This is a hard play to write about. I saw the play over a month ago, but I now just getting to the review of the play. The House of the Spirits is a play based on a novel by Isabel Allende, a second cousin of Salvador Allende Gossens, the socialist leader of Chile in the 1970's.

The story follows the Trueba family in an unnamed Latin America country (probably Chile) from the 1920's through the 1970's though the memories of Alba. The family started out poor, but were able to acquire some land, which moves them into the upper class.

Esteban, the patriarch of the family, develops into an ultra-conservative land owner, who supports the status quo, and abuses the peasants around him. He is a sexual predator to many of the women.

The son of Esteban's overseer, on the other hand, is working for socialism. He challenges the way things are in the country.

Then the military comes to power with its brutal power. Not only do they destroy the opposition through murder and rape, but they also push aside the old order. Things have changed.

The problem I have with the play is not the play itself, but with the way one actor presents his character. John Hutton played Esteban. He did not develop the character into the predator he was. For that a good play was only a fair event.