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"HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ASSASSINATED"
By Jonathon Morgan
Austinist.com
November 1, 2006
Célébrez la performance! Entertain, or die.
The mutli-faceted, loosely-connected, intellectually-rigorous fare that’s common from the Rude Mechs is again on display in Have You Ever Been Assassinated?. The boisterous-while-intricate, convention-bending staging by director Carlos Treviño coupled with the sharp dialogue and big-ideas-in-small-packages text by playwright Rebecca Beegle is often exceptionally witty and delightfully clever. So clever, in fact, that even though we hardly cared about the characters—a circumstance that’s generally a one-way road to boredom city—we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Sometimes a lot.
Upon arrival, we found ourselves at an old-fashioned vaudeville show, sans mystique (in a good way). The audience is allowed to see through the back of stage and into the dressing room as the actors chat amongst themselves and prepare for the show. Immediately we’re introduced to the idea of the actor as a performer—it’s just a show; they’re here to entertain us. From this opening image the production moves into a series of purposefully sloppy, kitschy, vaudeville routines that had us erupting with laughter. Finally, after nearly 10 minutes, the characters move “backstage”, and the dialogue begins.
A quick break for a plot overview—just in case you care—and then back to the criticism (after the jump): A close-nit family of vaudeville performers is losing their audience. The Redhead, a big-draw outsider whose reputation proceeds him, is performing with the troupe tonight. A bunch of weird shit ensues, including dance numbers, fights, death, Abe Lincoln, and the “multi-cultural machine”. It doesn’t happen quite in that order, and there’re other, smaller, equally as interesting ideas to fill in the gaps.
So anyway, after the funny vaudeville stuff, the dialogue started, and this is where the show lost some steam. Not because it wasn’t well-written, but more because the actors seemed to talk at each other instead of with each other—never really identifying with the text on a visceral level (or so it appeared). Each character was a well-drawn outline of what was supposed to be a person, but lacked the drive and honesty that would’ve allowed us access to empathize with them. The lines were well-placed—delivered at the correct time, with the correct pace, and with the correct intention—but lacked the urgency, the necessity of need that makes an actor’s choices feel convicted and worth caring about.
Not that it was dire. The actors certainly performed well enough to maintain the integrity of the production, allowing us to enjoy its finer elements. Leilah Stewart’s scenic design, for instance, created not only a variety of windows into the vaudevillian world, but also a theatrical playground for Treviño and company—full of seemingly endless surprises. Natalie George’s lighting design is also worth noting—chameleon-like and damn near beautiful on more than one occasion. And of course, let’s not forget Graham Reynolds, whose original score as always, without fail, kicks ass.
The verdict is thus: a must-see for theatre makers, and a great night out for anyone with a hankering for quick wit and ideas blasted at you like a shotgun. Those of you looking for something easy to roll with might not be quite so enthused, but what the hell—we liked it.