My overall impression
SPOILERS! (saw during preview, so things may be different!)
Having little knowledge of the show beforehand, the first tidbit of information pushed me squirming a bit into my seat. The lights go off, audio clippings of news and television seep into the audience, and the fact that the show is going to be about a school shooting immediately becomes clear. With such recent tragedies, and seemingly exponentially increasing numbers of them, the subject matter felt extremely prescient, and the audience was on their toes from the start. Personally, my expectations for the standards of the piece were immediately raised, my thoughts somewhere along the lines of “This subject matter is extremely raw and feels very close to home right now. This better be fucking amazing.”
Buoyed by energetic (though somewhat presentational) performances and even more energetic scene changes accompanied by some awesome 90’s teen angst tunes, the most pleasing thing to me about the production was it’s pacing. The thing moves right along, with hardly any opportunity given to be thrown out of the story, which means at no point was I thinking about my cellphone or what I needed to get done that day afterwards; a difficult thing to accomplish! The height of this energy and the drama of the play exploded in a bit of LARPing, extremely enjoyable to watch after all the buildup and talk about it, though I felt it could have been cut down slightly.
I thought it was interesting that the writer made the shooter a girl, especially in light of the Isla Vista (and many other) shootings where misogyny/male dominance seems to be a key factor. The result was, for me, a revelation of the pressure society places on young people in general to solve the problems of their lives with romantic relationships with others, instead of focusing on fixing or embracing themselves. Something I think is true for both women and men.
My one complaint was that the characters felt a little cliche and one-dimensional and the performances a little played-to-the-audience. The result was, for me, not much emotional connection to the characters or emotional impact from the show, which is unfortunate considering the subject matter. The result was a show that, weirdly enough, felt more like a fun romp than an intellectual prodding or expose of humanity’s reasons for cruelty. Still, quite enjoyable!
