Review by anonymous
June 06, 2016 certified reviewerWhat I liked
There was an attempt to introduce a variety of characters in this ensemble. Mixing these different personalities is an interesting idea. And I like the idea of an all-female monster-hunting team.
The flashlights (though ultimately ineffective) were also an interesting lighting idea. I get the idea of the desired effect—being in the woods at night with a flashlight. With a full audience, there are so many flashlights it just looks like the house lights are on. But still, the thought deserves some credit.
What I didn't like
Too much exposition: Most of this script is just exposition. We barely get to know these characters before the script launches us into their drama and confessions. The explanation of what monsters symbolize here is also blatantly explained/stated several times through out. The audience is beat over the head with exposition and explanation of the show numerous times—it takes over the writing. It almost felt like the play itself never got a chance to grow and develop because the script was too busy explaining the concept to us.It undercut the effectiveness of the drama, making it hard to really feel what the script wants us to feel. I came away from this show thinking of Hemingway’s iceberg principle: I felt like I was shown the entire iceberg under the water without getting the opportunity to see the very tip (the only part we’re supposed to see in effective storytelling). I would like to be shown more and left to fill in some blanks on my own rather than just being “told” the story and what it’s supposed to mean to me.
Too much drama: Sure, it’s good to have a variety of characters, each with her own complex back story and rich history.But for a 40 minute play, there was perhaps a bit too much of this to delve deeply into any of these stories. It felt like the surfaces of numerous inherently dramatic problems were described, but never fully explored. By the end it almost seems like each girl is attempting to top the other, each with her own sob story. And each sob story is, as mentioned before, inherently dramatic—perhaps relying on that inherent drama too much without delving in to make us really feel anything.
What happened to monster hunting?: I wondered early on what made filming this episode different from other episodes—why this episode would make this all-female monster-hunting cast break down and start confessing stories to one another. It often felt like the objective correlative was missing. A few minutes into the play, one of the characters mentioned that the episode needs spicing up and wants to search for a pack of feral dogs instead (which…aren’t monsters? Would a paranormal TV show do this?)—but we don’t know what a normal episode is like, why this episode isn’t working, and what the characters’ objectives for filming this episode are when they’re wandering lost in the woods. The metaphor for monsters is explained (again, when it should not be explained) but other than that, the monster-hunting element of the show is not worked into the story line at all. And I kept wondering, if all five of these women are stars of the show, where’s the camera crew and why are they not interacting with them? How do they plan for their episodes? What kind of footage were they actually seeking before the show took a turn? The play was also missing some of the tropes of this type of TV programming—where was their “paranormal” equipment (static-y radios, cameras, etc.)? This angle seemed to only be chosen for the blatant metaphor, but monster hunting was never actually incorporated into the story. I wouldn’t mind the show being about how they’re all frauds or the monsters aren’t literally real—but it would be nice incorporate all of that into the story and show us how these characters work.
The flashlights: I like this idea! I wonder if there’s a more effective way of making this work. There are too many (or perhaps the room just isn’t dark enough?) for this effect to work. Maybe the audience should not be instructed to all light the show at once? Maybe not every member should be given a flashlight?
My overall impression
This show clearly had ambitions and the opening introduces a fun cast of characters. However, there is a heavy amount of exposition and explanation that takes over the storytelling.
