immersive but incomplete

I’ve never reviewed a play and, as a former theatre student, don’t want to criticize theatre, but I have to object when TV-style sensationalism steals the stage.

Centaur Theatre is hosting a production of Butcher which promises to be about loyalty, revenge and justice when the play is in fact the mere portrayal of a violent act of revenge.

No plot.  No character development.  No ideas.

Vacuous.

As my 15-year old daughter politely said when it was over, “It was incomplete”.  My 13 year-old son, a little more generous with his review, said it was “immersive”.  That may have been because we were in the front row on the edge of a set with actual rain pouring from the ceiling.  That was cool.  Well done.

The stagecraft was great, the atmosphere immersive but the play, alas, was incomplete.