Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Amir Nizar Zuabi’s GREY ROCK at La Mama is an inspired and inspiring first draft

• By drediman
• January 10, 2019
• No Comments

Ivan Kevork Azazian and Khalifa Natour in Amir Nizar Zuabi’s “Grey Rock” at La Mama. Photo by Carlos Cardona.

Last weekend at La Mama, I caught one of the final performances of Palestinian playwright Amir Nizar Zuabi’s new work entitled Grey Rock. The play tells the story of a grieving widower in Palestine who distracts himself with – more like obsesses over – the wild idea of building a manned rocket to the moon. With great relish, he pours all his time, money, and effort into this pursuit, much to the dismay of his family, religious community, and government.

The recent, now closed, production at La Mama gave the strong impression that Grey Rock was still very much a work in progress. This evidenced itself through some blunt acting and some slight redundancy in the text, which had a tendency for overwrought emotions. That being said, there were moments in the show that moved me deeply, particularly in the play’s inspiring second half (after some pedeyexposition). With additional drafts, I believe the show’s issues are resolvable.

Given that the production only had a handful of performances, I would commend everyone involved for pulling off this ambitious play – a special mention particularly to Mr. Zuabi, who directed his own play, for his smart, efficient, and I would even say stylish staging (I would love to see what he does with the piece with more time and funds). As mentioned, the cast’s work was uneven, which was to be expected. However, I particularly enjoyed Khalifa Natour and Ivan Kevork Azazian as the mentioned widower and his endearing workshop assistant.

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GREY ROCK
Off-Broadway, Play
La Mama
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed