[NEohioPAL]Berko review: SPAWN OF THE PETROSEXUALS (convergence-continuum)

[Roy Berko]

‘SPAWN OF THE PETROLSEXUALS’ is not a pleasant
experience for this reviewer

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

Christopher Johnston, the playwright of ‘A SPAWN OF
PETROLSEXUALS,’ which is now being staged at
convergence-continuum theatre, states in the playbill,
“I won’t try to articulate my anger and frustration
over an America I no longer know, nor our
unconscionable lack of concern for consequences.”

Yes, Johnston is angry and frustrated.   So am I.

Both Johnston and I are angry that America has lost
its course under the corrupt Bush administration and
the business overlords as well as the the
over-consumption of resources and the breakdown of
ethical values. Yes, unless there are some drastic
changes we are on a sliding board to becoming a
second-rate nation.

Beyond that, my frustration centers on the playwright
and convergence’s artistic director.  

I believe that theatre should be purposeful and
meaningful.  The author has an obligation to the
audience to present a message in a way that they can
reasonably understand the author’s intent.  In my
opinion, Johnston does not write  a play that clearly
states the problem or shows a way out of the void. 
Instead,  he writes a script filled with unnecessary
abstract imagery, abstract situations, and the use of
profanity for the sake of using profanity.  He creates
abstraction for affect, rather than effect.  He also
creates happenings that gross out the audience for no
reason (eg., one cast member realistically urinating
into the mouths of two others in order to “rehydrate”
them).  During this scene, the person sitting next to
me moaned, “That’s disgusting.”  It was!  Gross can be
an effective tool, but what was the act’s real purpose
other to gross out the viewer and show how avant garde
the author was?

The question that Artistic Director Clyde Simon has to
answer is, “why did you choose to stage this script?” 
Yes, you wanted to do an original play, and the author
wrote this specifically for your theatre, but that
does not mean you have to do a script of questionable
quality.  On the way into the theatre, one of the
patrons said to Simon, “Am I going to understand this
one?”  Obvioulsy, the patron has been to convergence
in the past and been confounded by Simon’s “unique”
selection of scripts.  I didn’t get a chance to ask
the man after the production about his understanding,
but the odds are he was as lost as most of us.

Part way through the first act a character in ‘A SPAWN
OF PETROLSEXUALS’ says, “Who’s listening to this
crap?”  I almost yelled out, “Not me...I turned off
the whole proceedings long ago,”  and from observing
those around me, most of the audience had joined me. 
The “crap” statement was followed by another of the
author’s lines, “I thought and I thought and there is
nothing worth saying.”   My first reaction upon
hearing the line was, “So, Mr. Johnson, why did you
write the script?” And, the second was, “Why am I
sitting here enduring this?”  So, for only the second
time in all my theatrical experiences, I left at
intermission.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  I have sat through many, many
theatrical productions.  I would have to rank seeing
‘A SPAN OF PETROLSEXUALS’ at convergence as one of the
most uncomfortable experiences of them all.  

Side note on this review:  I don’t like writing
critiques that discourage people from attending the
theatre, but I would be disingenuous to my readers if
I was less than honest about this script and
production. 


Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2002 through 2007, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info
      
Roy's theatre and dance reviews appear regularly on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.  His reviews also appear on www.coolcleveland.com


       
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