What I liked
Simply brilliantly written and preformed for maximum comedic effect. It felt meticulously drafted and directed, for as frantic as many scenes were, the actors never seemed out of control and lines never got thrown away.
While the takeaway themes were blunt, I did appreciate the subtle critique of Baby Boomers. One would think millennials might be to blame for political elections as popularity contests, yet polling tells us the opposite. In the play, it’s the Instagram influencer who repeatedly drops the most significant political insights, while the popularity contest is ultimately unraveled by its own ridiculousness.
What I didn't like
For my taste, the script went to the news desk gag a few too many times. It was funny for awhile, but ultimately didn’t really serve to drive the narrative (as it could have), and one can only take the same joke so many times.
My overall impression
Good absurdist art, which Lincoln 2020 certainly is, must contain an element of contemporary plausibility to be effective. Somewhat paradoxically, we live in a time where information about anyone is readily available to everyone, yet we still largely elect leaders who we already know the most about. Heading into this play, I had been thinking about how older politicians like Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders naturally have an advantage in the name recognition game simply by virtue of being on the earth longer. You could say I was primed to fully absorb the absurdity I was about to witness, and Lincoln 2020 really delivered.
