52 Pick Up

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