This is the first show I saw on Friday, and even if it had been the only one I could have seen—it wasn’t—I’d be a happy guy. (The other three are worth seeing too.)
The play is based on an excerpt from W. Shakespeare, but Jonathan De Souza remixes, deconstructs, silences, and reconstructs the dialogue. The script echoes itself and then echoes the echoes, playing with interpretation and emotion in a different way every time. It makes for a fascinating experience.
The actors are excellent; they handle everything the playwright launches their way, and he’s throwing heat. Even silent, they manage to preserve the meaning of each individual word. I lost track of how many characters each person plays, but it’s always clear who’s speaking—even in one sequence where it seems each actor says every other word playing a different character!
The set is clever, although it might be slightly too large for the McManus stage: the front row were in danger of losing kneecaps on a couple of wide rotations. The masks mentioned in an earlier post are classic and creepy—think of The Twilight Zone‘s Eye of the Beholder—and allow more range of facial expression than one might expect.
There are too many scenes and encounters to list, but one between two bookstore patrons is worth mention for being both disturbing and charming at the same time.
The only minor misstep is the musical number. The song works as an introduction—it’s catchy, in a West Side Story sort of way—but the reprise seems out of place, present only to bookend the earlier appearance and to provide an opportunity for the actors to take their (well-deserved!) bows.
I know it’s early to be making declarations, but I’m going to write this anyway: You Kiss by the Book is the class of the Fringe.