In January, I contributed my first review to the wonderful, oh-so-comprehensive website CurtainUp, which was founded by (and continues to be edited by) the terrific and tireless Elyse Sommer. Elyse and I have been bumping into each other during intermissions for years now, and I’m so happy to be contributing to her site and getting out to see even more shows. CurtainUp review: Looking for the Pony
My first assignment was the play Looking for the Pony, a heartbreaking, but often hilarious, play about the relationship between two sisters when one of them is diagnosed with cancer. I feel like there is never enough material out there that dares to really confront the issues surrounding death and illness, and I found this play to be an excellent addition to other productions of its ilk (including the oft-produced Wit and Lisa Kron’s genre-bending Well). As I frequently remark to friends, death is one of the few things in life that we all share (it’s a given, no matter how assiduously you might fight it with regular treatments of Botox or heavy doses of denial). Isn’t it time we could dialogue more about it – and not only about death itself, but about all of the living that continues to be done around it?
It seemed appropriate that a play like this would get wildly mixed reviews, as you can see in these two. (The Times liked it, TheaterMania loathed it.)
NYTimes review
Theatermania review
But then again, perhaps much of how we experience the subject is colored by our own experiences. My younger sister died of cancer almost six years ago, and I find myself extremely sensitive to anything approaching the hackneyed/maudlin/syrupy sentimental. Far from therapy, to me this play bravely mixed the fear of “going there” with the relief of hearing someone articulate (with wit and empathy) a few very real aspects of these (literally) life-or-death experiences.
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