What I liked
For the most part, the actors did a great job with the tasks at hand, creating believable characterizations and emotions that were believable and understandable. I think they were watchable.
What I didn't like
I think this show was really badly advertised. By suggesting in any way that this show is inspired by “Ghost Hunters” or “Destination Truth”, you are creating a clear expectation of what kind of show we might be experiencing—an expectation that is only heightened by the idea that we’re going to be using flashlights.
But when we get there and the show is really about a bunch of women who are trying to deal with their internal issues and handle their fears, that is not at all what either of those two shows are. Yes, these women work on a show that is LIKE those—but nothing in this theatrical play is like those TV shows, so it feels very much like a bait and switch was pulled on us.
Note that there is NOTHING wrong with doing a show like this as a show. Fringe has many, many shows that deal with people and their varied crises, problems and goals. And many of them are very good. This show itself is very good AS A SHOW. I’m speaking only of the idea that it is NOT the show that I was expecting. And I don’t want anyone else to walk in expecting anything other than a show about people dealing with their internal issues.
Also, the flashlights felt like nothing more than a gimmick. I don’t think they did ANYTHING worthwhile for the show. There were so many of them that I immediately turned my off and disconnected from the entire process.
My overall impression
If I watch Ghost Hunters or Destination Truth, I expect a show that purports to find monsters out in the wild. And that’s what the five women in this show are trying to do as well—find a monster in the wilds of New Jersey. And as illuminated by you (and about 50 other people, all of whom have far too over-bright LED flashlights like you now) in the same theater, that’s what this show starts as being about.
Almost immediately, however, the show turns into something else. It turns out that every one of these women have other internal issues that they are dealing with that seem to be far more important than whatever external monsters might be out there. And the show then proceeds to deal with the things inside rather than anything outside.
And then when they’ve finally aired and looked at and prodded and resolved (if possible) those things, the show is over.
The first words I heard when the house lights came up were uttered by a gentleman behind me who cried out “Where is the werewolf-spider? I wanted to see him!”
I can’t say that I disagreed.
Because this show was really problematic for me. It wasn’t that I disliked ANY of what I saw in and of itself. I liked the acting. I liked the characters. I liked the stories that were told.
But if you give me a flashlight, I expect to NEED it. But if you give 50+ people flashlights and then let them be the only source of light and find nothing that eliminates any of that light again, then they end up being TOO bright…and a given flashlight becomes irrelevant. Mine did and I totally turned it off instantly. And that meant I was immediately unconnected to the story emotionally.
If you tell me this is inspired by Ghost Hunters, then I expect the monster to show—ESPECIALLY if the characters decide there is no monster after all. Or at least for them to see something they might think IS one. Or for US to see one, even if they don’t. SOMETHING. Instead, we got a character piece—nothing wrong with that, but NOT what I expect given the expectations. So it felt wrong—out of place. I felt unconnected all over again.
I was so trying to find SOMETHING that would make this show match what I expected that I literally was looking at my flashlight to see if there was an adaptor that was going to make them all turn off halfway through the show. That’s how much I was looking for something other than what I was seeing…and how much expectation had been raised.
Perhaps that’s unfair; perhaps it was all in my head. It certainly may have been. But I know I wasn’t the only one, based on commentary I had with other audience just after the show. This is a great show about dealing with one’s fears.
But I wanted a show that made me use a flashlight to deal with my own. Or at least a show about monsters that are real.
