pgMustGoOn

= Must Go On Critique =
 * Note: Much of the information I reference when stating what kind of ideas the director, stage designer, or costume designer had in mind come from the pre-performance catalogue.

Conceived as a comical parody about an industry facing an uncertain future, local news broadcasting, //Must Go On// by John Kundert-Gibbs fails in presenting a compelling story or laughable farce to the audience. The direction was overly ambitious, the script was uninteresting and predictable, and the acting was not believable which contributed to a lack of comic timing. The set design was cleverly pulled off—a neat combination of in house and film-room interplay; however, much of this effect was null because of a lack of attention paid by the director to whether the audience could follow both monitor and in-room action at the same time

First, the director failed in his most ambitious ploy: to make both on stage and on screen action coexist in a comical and coherent way. The simultaneous action meant that the audience had to choose where to turn their attention when, often, this meant missing something in the story. For example, when the first guest, Eustace, began to sexually assault Bill, the on screen story broke into chaos; Sam and Phyllis began to argue on the stage while Brooke and Ruby were involved in dialogue as well. This might have been avoided with some clever timing and more advantageous blocking (such as having the characters away from the TV screen), however, characters like Sam and Brooke often stood within the direct line of the screens from the audiences perspective. In effect, the action—which was consistently as hectic as the later scene described—was very confusing and little could be picked up from any one of the confrontations. With all of this chaos, the director failed to effectively communicate the story to the audience.

Casting for the show seemed to rely heavily on typecasting—appropriate for a play largely based on recognizable characters. While the actors themselves looked like they could be their character, their was little else that seemed to go into the casting strategy.

Another problem with the directing in //Must Go On// was the under exaggeration of stereotype for the purpose of parody. While the characters were certainly recognizable—Brick as the self-absorbed news anchor, Gwenn as the ambitious young news woman hoping to make it to network TV, Sam as the sassy effeminate make-up guy, et cetera—they were not compelling because simply being identifiable does not make them funny. The majority of the character seemed only mildly farcical, never taking anything too far, and provided the audience with nothing new to laugh at from characters that many of them have already seen parodied in movies like //Anchorman//. This lack of imagination falls partially on the director who was responsible for focusing the actors in a manner that will bring to life the text.

Primarily responsible for the plays unimaginative plot is the playwright, John Kundert-Gibbs as well, who used hackneyed plot developments and comedic gags. Exemplifying this is the joke that none of the characters know the nervous shuffling PA’s name and they are continuously are trying to figure it out. Likewise, the plot twist that everything going haywire has actually helped their TV ratings was predictable and unsurprising. The effect of recycling plot lines like these is that the play seems more like an episode of a sitcom than a farcical comedy.

Also, the playwright did not seem to provide the on-screen news members, particularly Gwenn and Brick, with enough lines, so that, at times there was an awkward silence while they waited for the next thing to happen either in the stage room or on another part of the set. Instances when the sound was unmuted by Sam in particular were not smooth. The actors were usually not discussing anything fluidly and seemed to have just started a conversation realizing they were unmuted in the other room. These awkward moments threw the entire flow of the play off and seemed to be overlooked by the director as well. Overall, the script was not original and hardly gave the actors a chance to be comedic or have fluid and believable relationships with each other.

Acting in //Must Go On// was unremarkable and at times it was sloppy. Though the lacking script is largely to blame for the actors not being funny, there were times when it was clear they were under prepared. When Sam first started to put on Gwenn’s makeup and they were discussing why that day would be such a big day for Gwenn, there was two times that the actor playing Sam had to audibly help out Gwenn with her lines. A mishap once or twice in the play is understandable, but the actors and actresses seemed to struggle for their lines at many points. In effect, they did not possess the type of conviction and confidence that would make their acting believable. The only actors that had good comic timing and did not stumble over any of their lines were Sam, played by Nathan Cowling, and Bill, played by Cole Earnest. Making them standout from the rest of the cast was their outrageous interpretation of their clichéd characters. These actors were fully “in character” and everything from their mannerism to the expressions on their face during dialogue was both recognizable and over-the-top. Bill rattling off the string of Australian sayings when describing his night out with his friends is a stupendous example of how the well Earnest knew the lines. That sequence was smooth, said with good timing, and ultimately, the audience responded with laughter. The overblown attitude toward their characters made Cowling and Earnest considerably more comical than the other cast members.

In direct contrast with the other aspects of the production, the set design done by Rich Dunham was brilliantly executed, creating a realistic and clever space for the story to be told. The construction and synchronization of the four parted television screen was a clever addition as it allowed the audience to view the action in the filming room on a large screen. Constructed to look like a makeup room and guest lounge, the actual theatre space was inconspicuous. While not very showy, the placement of the couches and makeup tables was effective because it allowed for a large open space in the middle of the proscenium. The design of the set for //Taste of the Morning// played on the recognizable two couch and coffee table design common to many talk shows. In this case, because the set was not a large part in the comedic nature of the play, the cliché of the filming room was understandable and appropriate. With the clever touch of detail, such as decorating the entrance to the film room or placing an exit door out the back of the theatre space, the stage design team gave a consistent and imaginative space for the actors to work in and the audience to view.

//Must Go On// was largely received as not funny; there were not many times that more than a few audience members were laughing. With all of the painstaking work that was put into the production—like filming commercials to play before the show—the idea had potential. Sadly, John Kundert-Gibbs relied too heavily on the hilarity of the clichéd theatre characters and did not focus enough on whether the story was interesting or if the audience could tell what was going on at all.