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THE OPEN HOUSE (Possible Spoiler)

Posted by: sergius 12:24 am EDT 03/16/14

Who hasn't sometimes wished that they could disappear from their family or, better yet, that they could disappear their family? Will Eno has managed to depict such a vanishing act with droll and mournful aplomb in THE OPEN HOUSE. The first half of the play depicts the family that will soon be gone. But maybe not. I've only seen one other of his plays, but I have a favorable impression so far. If the family dysfunction is laid on on really, really thick at first--which is perplexing and grows wearisome--there's a narrative shift--innovation really--that enlarges the dysfunction into a more universal despair. This play is structurally impressive not least because it accomplishes its narrative contrivances plausibly. Eno's characters are all depressives; they're sad because they can't stop wishing for more. If more arrives--as THE OPEN HOUSE suggests is possible--less is always at its heels.


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Has Depressing and Violent left the Contemporary Playwright?

Posted by: stan 08:58 am EDT 03/16/14
In reply to: THE OPEN HOUSE (Possible Spoiler) - sergius 12:24 am EDT 03/16/14

I really enjoyed "Open House." It was funny and thoughtful. Last month "Stage Kiss" and now this. I was laughing out loud and the audiences were smiling when they left the theater. (not so in "Red Vienna"). Maybe the good times are rolling in? or maybe it's like the Kaufmann and Marx Bros. shows of the depression geared to make you forget the Crimean crisis and the missing Malaysian Jet and the new Mayor. Anyway, it's nice to have a chuckle.


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re: Has Depressing and Violent left the Contemporary Playwright?

Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 02:15 pm EDT 03/16/14
In reply to: Has Depressing and Violent left the Contemporary Playwright? - stan 08:58 am EDT 03/16/14

I have to ask: Are you joking about THE OPEN HOUSE being a "good time" play? As hilarious as much of it is, there are extremely dark, unsettling underpinning to the characters and the story. Did you not get any of that?


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