Friday, February 3, 2012

Quick Hit Theater Review: Gob Squad's Kitchen

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The Gob Squad. Photo David Baltzer
Gob Squad's Kitchen (You've Never Had it So Good)
The Public Theater
through Feb. 5, 2012

Summary:
Devised and performed by the German/British Collective Gob Squad, this trip back to 1965 and to the underground cinemas of Andy Warhol, brings back to life the creation of his movies Kitchen, Sleep and The Kiss. Before the show, audience members are given a "tour" of the studio on stage behind a large screen on which live videos are shown as scenes from the movies are loosely created by cast members Johanna Freiburg, Sean Patten, Sharon Smith, Berit Stumpf, Sarah Thom, Bastian Trost and Simon Will along with members of the audience who are tapped to come up and take cast members places in the filming. Special guests listed include Erik Pold, Nina Tecklenburg and Laura Tonke.

To quote the publicity materials:
A Film Made Live On Stage With Bad Coffee, Nervous Breakdowns, Wild Parties and Modern Hairstyles.

Highlights:
Technically interesting with video by Miles Chalcraft, sound design by Jeff McGrory and stage design by Chasper Bertschinger.

Lowlights:
An audience participation hater's nightmare.
If you are into the drug and sex culture of the 1960s, made famous by Warhol and his cohorts, you will enjoy this. If you don't like seeing images like these, you won't like it:
  • a woman choking off her air supply by placing a plastic bag over her head and a strap around her neck
  • people trying to get high by snorting coffee grinds
  • people getting sexually aroused by smearing peanut butter and corn flakes on each other
  • a woman filmed sleeping until asked to make out with one of the female actresses
When a woman being oppressed by cornflakes said, "I want this to stop," I finally related to something. To quote a critic friend of mine: "There is an hour and 50 minutes of my life I'll never get back."

Other information:
 The show, which was highlighted at the Public's Under the Radar Series, returned for this short engagement which ends Sunday. Single tickets, priced at $60-$70 can be purchased by calling 212-967-7555, by visiting www.publictheater.org, or in person at The Public Theater box office, 425 Lafayette St., NYC.

Christians might also like to know:
--Sexually graphic activity
--Sexual dialogue throughout
--God's name taken in vain
--Homosexual dialogue
--Homosexual activity
--Language
Posted by Lauren Yarger at 9:54 PM

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My Bio

Lauren Yarger is Executive Director/Producer with Masterwork Productions, Inc. She has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the 2000 Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists.

Yarger trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Three-Day Training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run.

In 2008 she was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She writes reviews of Broadway and off-Broadway theater with an added Christian perspective for Masterwork Productions at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/. She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She is a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com and previously served as Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

Yarger is a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly and freelances for other sites. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

She is a freelance writer and playwright and member of The Drama Desk, The Outer Critics Circle, The American Theater Critics Association and The League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a judge for the SDX Awards presented by the Society of Professional Journalists. She also is a member of the CT Press Club, the Connecticut SPJ and the Connecticut Critics Circle.

A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.
Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.
Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.
Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.
Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.
Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.
Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.
Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.
Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.
Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.
Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Our Reviewing Policy

Our reviewer Lauren Yarger receives free tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle and The Drama Desk, the two professional critics organizations with journalists covering NY theater. Journalistically, she provides an unbiased review and is under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows our readers want to know about (we review all Broadway shows and pertinent Off-Broadway shows), Masterworks purchases a ticket.

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