My overall impression
NOSTALGIUM is an interesting two-hander with potential that has some very strong moments that comes from both Matt Benyo’s writing and Tracy Dillon’s performance.
There are lines that really resonated with me and some of the text relating to the Bible was particularly brilliant. If you enjoy heady fare with lofty ideas this will largely appeal to you. It is genre-bending with the thrust of the piece starting off like a “Stoner comedy” before switching over to more of a mystery that has a very unexpected turn at the end. This is not a play for the faint of heart. It does demand that you stay engaged with it and the intention of the final moments may be unsettling to some.
Tracy Dillon gives a very dynamic portrayal to her character alternating between haunted and tortured to funny and able to find the humor in the material. She has a very truthful quality to her.
Alex Scott’s staging makes fairly good use of the space and it doesn’t feel like he gets in the way of the actors.
There are some very obvious excesses and short comings to the show the night I saw it, but I can not add anything that has not already been stated in some of the other reviews.
In the end I left perplexed by the world view of the piece due to it’s structure and dark ending however, this is largely my own taste. It seemed appropriate for these deeply unsatisfied characters demanding something from one another they did not feel they contained. In this way I connected with them and perhaps left vibing a little too much off their ennui.
I too am an Iowa alum and have worked with both writer and director. However, I am intrigued by their work and look forward to what’s next.
