Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – BAD DATES & TYPICAL: Effervescent performances by Andréa Burns and Richard Blackwood elevate otherwise programmatic solo shows

• By drediman
• March 5, 2021
• No Comments

This week, I streamed a pair of programmatic solo shows that benefited from effervescent turns. Here are my thoughts.

BAD DATES
George Street Playhouse
On-demand through March 14

First up was Bad Dates (RECOMMENDED) by Theresa Rebeck, undoubtedly one of the most prolific and robustly produced female playwrights of her generation. Written in 2003 as a vehicle for the fabulous Julie White, the one woman show is unfortunately starting to show its age, as evidenced by its pre-woke stereotypes of, well, pretty much everyone. Thankfully, George Street Playhouse’s virtual revival stars the equally fabulous Andréa Burns in the central role of Haley, a feisty self-made woman and single mom who decides to give dating and romance another shot. Despite her relative success on the boards, the sweet and sultry Ms. Burns – whose expressive eyes and sparkling smile invariably fly to the rafters – is perhaps a tad under-appreciated given her considerable talent and natural star power (can someone please finally cast this versatile actress in a leading role on Broadway already?). Indeed, she’s made a strong impression in everything I’ve seen her in, most recently as a sensational Judy Holliday in the all-too-brief Off-Broadway run of the bio-drama Smart Blonde. Suffice to say, her genuinely winning performance elevates the otherwise pedestrian Bad Dates. Indeed, the warmth and effortless command of her work (framed nicely by Peter Flynn’s witty direction) almost make you forget the play’s predictable and outmoded rom-com formula.

TYPICAL
Soho Theatre
On-demand through March 31

Then we have Typical (RECOMMENDED), Ryan Calais Cameron’s dramatic account of the final hours of Christopher Alder, whose brutal death in 1998 under police custody after an evening at a nightclub rings just as urgently today as it did more than two decades ago. After the solo show proved a hit at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019, the production transferred to London’s intimate Soho Theatre (where it was committed to film). Although Mr. Cameron does an effective job of painting a three dimensional portrait of Mr. Alder, the play somehow feels less than fully satisfying, perhaps because of the unremarkable real life circumstances leading up to its abrupt, tragic conclusion. On the surface, other plays that have dealt with systemic racism of Black men in British society (e.g., the National’s production of Death of England: Delroy by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams, the Almeida’s recent production of Hymn by Lolita Chakrabarti) have proven more thematically fleshed out and viscerally theatrical than the stripped down Typical (the austere, efficient direction is by Anastasia Osei-Kuffour). But maybe it’s precisely because the playwright honors Mr. Alder’s blunt, inexplicably senseless end that Typical ultimately proves impactful. Regardless of the text’s arguable merits, the production’s indisputable asset is Richard Blackwood, who brings an inviting vitality and earthy sensuality to Alder that makes the traumatic mortal injustices against him hit viewers that much harder.