What I liked
Jessica Fischer’s writing was so incisive, tackling so many difficult topics with an incredibly sharp with. Her writing kept surprising me with reveal after reveal and rising tension. It is hard to make four deeply unlikeable, spotlight hungry characters also feel entertaining and compelling to watch and Jessica’s writing shines there.
Loved the dark humor throughout the piece, particularly once Jimmy’s character sets on the stage. The audience was hooting and hollering at so many of his one liners.
Everleigh Brenner and Jack Menzies exude charisma on stage and held the audience in the palm of their hands for the entire 90 minutes, despite both of their characters being incredibly toxic people.
The set design was hands down the most polished thing I’ve seen at Fringe this year. Really transported us to that world. Kudos for packing all that in during the limited load in/out!
What I didn't like
As I walked away and continued to think about the play, I couldn’t help but feel there were perhaps too many conflicting themes here. I keep coming back to the consent/SA thread and feeling that this was competing with the rest of the themes, particularly the public/private image discourse and the exes getting back together discourse. For example, I struggled with the fact that part of me wanted Charlie and Sully to get back together but another part felt icky for wanting that after all that discussion of SA. But that also highlights the intelligence in the writing and the complexity of this piece, as I have been thinking over and over about this.
Similarly, as I walked away I began questioning some of the character logic. Like why was Sully so cold and awkward when he first arrives if it’s later revealed that he’s been pinning for Charlie for a decade. His coldness tracked much better for me until this piece of information was revealed. Similarly I kept questioning why is Sully so angry in the second episode at Charlie’s perceived assault at exposing his SA story if is carrying so much guilt around the other thing that happened. But again, while part of me is questioning these choices after the fact, in true refrigerator logic. In the moment these things did not bother me as much as I was completely immersed in the story and the way it kept turning cards and exposing new truths about these characters.
I truly want more friends to see it so I can dissect this with them.
My overall impression
A scandalous and thought-provoking drama with sprinkles of dark humor (my fave!) that will keep you at the edge of your seat with reveal after reveal that continues to escalate the tension to a crescendo of epic proportions. In 90 minutes, Playback skewers romantic relationships, consent, toxic masculinity, public and private personas and the world of podcasting using that same medium as the vehicle for its critique.
Brilliant! Sharp! Scandalous! A definitely must-watch! Too bad they only have one date left.
