Check out the review posted on Stage Raw about Pauda Playwrights
THE ROYAL
Reviewed by Vanessa Cate
Padua Lab and The MET Theatre
Feb 11 - February 21
RECOMMENDED
Guy Zimmerman’s THE ROYAL is an unfailing example of Padua Playwrights’ established aesthetic. For decades the writing workshop has taken an intellectual, non-careerist approach, focusing on the playwright rather than the actor. Actually performing a new play in front of an audience is considered simply the final stage in the writing process.
Much of the script’s potency is due to information slowly and deliberately unraveling before our eyes. Many mysteries are presented. First, we have to ask: Who is the woman on stage, tied to a chair, a black sack obscuring her face? (Anna Khaja is under there). She wears a name tag — “Anna” — and a waitress’s ensemble. What does Morgan (Jan Munroe) want? An aging muscleman as charismatic as he is threatening, how far is he willing to go to get it? And what does the pool boy Alex (Christian Levantino) know? What connects him to the others and brings them into this claustrophobic room where they are bound together until the end?
A struggle emerges for power, information, and reconciliation. However, it is not the resolution of the plot that is most satisfying. The script is one part thriller, one part forensic procedural. What is most successful is the poetry in the words. The script might also be considered an exploration of the blueprint and structure of these genres themselves.
Read the full article at Stage Raw
Image Credit Christian Levatino, Anna Khaja, and Jan Munroe in Guy Zimmerman’s ‘THE ROYAL’ (Photo by Alex Hoffman)
No comments yet.