What I liked
There was a musical consistency to the repetition allowing each nuance, change and development to stand out and move the play forward without disrupting the abstract almost dance feel of it.
What I didn't like
I would have to see it again, it’s hard to tell if something could have paid out better or if I missed something because there was a lot going on.
My overall impression
One of the things I dig about theater as a medium is it not only allows artists to go for it in terms of concept and execution, but it encourages it. There’s a place for kitchen sink drama or Mamet style biting dialog, but theater can also do away with the hand rails entirely. Instead of an answer, it can reframe the question.
Start swimming is an exercise in just that. Through the self described Pavlovian rewards and punishments, answers become meaningless and arbitrary. You are on or off, you will obey or not obey and both choices are part of the plan. The answers are neither wrong nor right, the question is wrong. Not to reduce a complex play down to a trite soundbite, but it invites you to question the question. Every generation goes through this, tries to find the rule makers and the logic behind the rules only for it to become more arcane than where they started. You won’t have to be a millennial to feel the frustration.
