Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Filmmaker Todd Solondz’s EMMA AND MAX is flawed but provocative, as expected

• By drediman
• October 20, 2018
• No Comments

Zonya Love, Matt Servitto, and Ilana Becker in Todd Solondz’s “Emma and Max” at the Flea Theater. Photo by Joan Marcus.

This afternoon, I caught a matinee performance of filmmaker Todd Solondz’s world premiere play Emma and Max at the Flea Theater. I was eagerly looking forward to the experience given that one of the seminal cinematic experiences of my of my formative years was Mr. Solondz’s unforgiving satire Happiness (featuring a heartbreaking performance from the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Emma and Max showcases Mr. Solondz in his typical mode of provocateur. Like the films for which he’s notable for, his play – a foray into the uncomfortable upper-middle class realities of parenthood in our current day and age – highlights the awkwardness and inauthenticity of modern living. Although I found the play to be inflammatory (as expected) much of the time, I also felt that in its current hit-or-miss form, Emma and Max has yet to reach its final form. Indeed, the piece deserves to be further examined by Mr. Solondz to maximize its theatrical effectiveness. Currently, the play struck me as somewhat uneven in both tone and structure.

The production is directed by Mr. Solondz himself, which is perhaps one of the underlying issues of the endeavor. As a relatively new artist working in the theater, the playwright perhaps could have used a more experienced guiding hand in shaping his play for its theatrical mounting. Nevertheless, the accomplished cast is strong, capably handling the play’s intentionally squeamish situations with a clear sense of parody and painful reality.

RECOMMENDED

EMMA AND MAX
Off-Broadway, Play
The Flea Theater
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through October 28