52 Pick Up

I really liked the concept of this piece. With every show the 52 scenes are performed in a different, random order. I wasn't sure beforehand if it would work but it worked with flying colors. It was exciting and interesting having the audience and the actors not know what scene would be next. The two actors were amazing - very natural and lively. It was a tour de force, especially considering the actors had about one second to learn what the next scene would be before performing it. The random order of the scenes worked because the play was about relationships and relationships as we all know are often unpredictable and volatile. I will go again!... full review

The idea behind 52 Pick-Up is that every show is different, that through the end of time you would never see the same show twice. I wanted to test that theory to see just how different the second time around would be. Not only were the scenes different but the actors as well, one of the actors at least. This time the woman was played by Kym Jackson and the man again by Darren Schnase. Darren was as good, if not better than the first time I saw it and Kym gave a different and more grounded sensibility and yet didn't seem as connected to Darren's character as Emily Grace. It was surprising, as always to see the order of the scenes, this time they seemed grouped together to explain the end of the relationship and work backwards which left the l... full review

A very interesting deconstruction of a relationship over the course of a year or so. Using a deck of cards where each of the 52 represent a scene, the actors must play the titled scene that the nine of spades represents, for instance...so before the show the audience shuffles the cards, the actors come on stage and the master of ceremonies, so to speak, calls the card and the title of the scene and off we go...a new play every time as the order of the scenes change......What we then see is a relationship told non-linearly..the highs, the lows, the love, the fear, the recriminations, the aftermath. All of this is handled beautifully by the actors, the director and the playwright...What could easily be a silly gimmick here becomes a touching... full review

Second time I have seen this show and I must say very very impressive directing, acting and script. It's been explained in other reviews several times about the premise, the shuffling of the cards, the random calling of cards and then the transitioning the actors must make between scenes. Sometimes the transitions are very challenging. Going from really feeling regret and sadness, for example, to being in the early stages of love and in an almost drugged emotional state poses acting challenges and relies greatly on an actor's emotional vulnerability and flexibility. I saw the play twice both times with Emily Grace and with two very different actors, Nick Hardcastle and Darren Schnase. Each of these men are stellar actors, each have a powerf... full review

WHY THEATRE? Because it lives. It breathes. It pulsates with the full-bloodedness of actual experience. Sterling case in point: "52 Pick Up". I saw this patchwork portrait of troubled love on the last day of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and it was one of the most vitally interesting stage experiments I've ever been privileged to witness. It's not that it says startling new things about the course of romance, but rather that it says them in the nonlinear, searching way that we recall relationships and seek to process those memories. Each short scene of the play corresponds to a playing card, and an audience member shuffles the deck before each show. The two actors must then perform the scenes in the order of the disordered deck, guaranteein... full review

Okay. How often do you see a show where the audience leans forward in their seats throughout the entire 50 minutes? Well I saw 52 Pick Up in previews and when I looked around that’s what I saw. Everyone was engaged and riveted to what was happening every moment on the stage because no one had any idea what was coming next. Not audience or actor. The 52 cards is a gimmick in a way but the acting is absolutely brilliant and the premise of the show…a relationship where the scene titles on 52 playing cards dictate what scripted scene comes next is well BRILLIANT because every single performance and show is unique. Depending on the way the cards are shuffled and the fact that no one knows ahead of time including the actors which scene is next mea... full review