So I went to see a play last night. It was The Suicide at UW. And wow, it really wasn't very good. I can't really point at poor acting - although there wasn't really any standout acting. I think it's more the direction and the general subject matter. It basically revolved around a down and out guy who's contemplating suicide. And there are all these groups out there who want to take advantage of his possible suicide by making him a martyr. At this point it isn't terrible. It's a comedy that might have worked as a dark serious comedy, but instead it was this surreal thing with goofy comedy all over the place. And the change of moods just didn't work for me - I never had any empathy for the characters. It also didn't help that there were 19 people in the play (no, I'm not kidding) and that it was 2.5 hours long.

I understand that comedy is a terribly hard thing to do. But I just saw the Reduced Shakespeare Company last week and had a much better experience. There were a few slow spots but overall they were funny and entertaining - comedy done well.

In the end I really need to make it to the theater more. But I have to remember that just like bad movies, there are bad plays. I even had some thoughts last night about why I tend to like bad movies more then bad plays, but I'll save those for another time.

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