What I liked
It takes a lot of talent to command a stage in the way that Spencer Weitzel does, playing the beleaguered head of the PR firm that we follow. He makes acting frantic (and acting in general, if we’re honest) look effortless, and I have to commend him specifically over the other, equally as talented actors, simply because of the amazingly committed performance he gave during his solo scene that became, without saying too much, probably more of a two-person scene than I imagine was expected.
The humor is very good throughout the piece, though if you tire of generational humor you might not enjoy it to the same extent. Contemporary slang and memes of the Internet age in particular are about as shelf-stable as milk, but Benjamin Schwartz managed to wrangle the usage of it in a way that I think has the best chance to last into a new decade, and Jaz Dicey’s deft delivery of the more ridiculous examples of slang felt easy and hilarious. It also takes a lot of work to make vitriolic or annoying characters exist in a state of charm, and I think both Brian Graves and Ryan Lisman handled their respective challenges with aplomb.
The staging of the piece is also worth commending. The ultimate physical crescendo to the bickering is well-executed, and the actors use the entirety of the stage and three-quarters set up of the stage very effectively. There was a particular stunt involving the table and Lisman that was so believable that, if it was indeed an accident, Lisman reacted brilliantly towards. Regardless, Schwartz clearly has an eye for directing and writing very engaging scenes.
What I didn't like
Story threads felt abandoned in unsatisfying ways – I kept waiting for certain elements, such as the thunderous bomb sounds that are remarked upon, or the completely unknown gift one character is trying to arrange delivery for, or the conspiracy theories one person endlessly touts, or the one-side conversation we hear with the youngest member of the team and her mother, to circle back. Even the resolution to the plot’s problem, “What are we going to write in this PR statement?” is resolved in a way that I found very odd, as well, and in a way that really didn’t seem to matter. Which, while I understand the thematic relevance, does still leave a weird hole in the reality that these characters occupy.
These odd little elements, when stitched together and contrasted against the characters that spend a majority of their time driving each other up the wall, made me feel like I was waiting for the shoe to drop on some sort of complete 180 character development, or grand conspiracy, or magical realism moment, or something. I’m not saying the show would have been improved by revealing that everyone was secretly dead, but ultimately I was found wanting by the end of it.
Furthermore, when I went home to look more into the true story behind this script, I was very confused as to why the story was set in Malaysia, as the infamous event that kicked off this whole thing actually took place in the Dalai Lama’s home temple in Northern India, and the last time I could find that he visited Malaysia was in the 80s, so something seems amiss here.
My overall impression
A sharply written exercise in the adage of “Hell is other People,” Suck My Tongue features brilliant acting, great wit, clean direction, and a very impressive digital prologue.
