THE HANGOVER REPORT – The baffling FONDLY, COLLETTE RICHLAND is more frustrating than thrilling

IMG_4337It’s taken me a few days to formalize and document my thoughts on Sibyl Kempson’s confounding Fondly, Collette Richland, as performed by the folks at the adventurous Elevator Repair Service in a co-production with New York Theatre Workshop. Attempting to begin to describe its indecipherable fever dream of a plot is futile. Try as might, I couldn’t tell you what Ms. Kempson’s obviously extensively-researched play is about – at all. So I’ll save you the agony of my trying articulate any semblance of meaning.

I knew I was in trouble early on. When a play needs a plant in the audience to verbalize what we’re all thinking on the other side of the fourth wall (in one of the first scenes, a character says he has no idea what’s going on, to which the plant in the audience shouts back, “You and me both, buddy!”). I’ve been a fan of Elevator Repair Service’s shows in the past. Their verbatim stage adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (entitled Gatz) and William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury uncovered fascinating, highly theatrical (and often times subversive and intensely hilarious) ways to engage in language, plot, and character. The trouble with Fondly, Collette Richland is that there is nothing for the audience to intellectually grasp onto. Elevator Repair Service’s experimental, hyper-theatricalized approach falls flat when paired with something like Ms. Kempson’s seemingly Dada-influenced text.

This is a shame because the production, directed to the bone by John Collins, is technically thrilling to behold, element by element. I applaud the excellent cast for their commitment and energy, especially given the show’s nearly three hour running time. The production’s meticulous, complex designs (scenic design by David Zinn, costume design by Jacob A. Climer, lighting design by Mark Barton, and sound design by Ben Williams) bring to mind the rigorous, highly disciplined work of Robert Wilson. Indeed, the final phantasmagorical sequence, in which technical mastery meets unbridled chaos, is quite the experience. Alas, if that were enough.

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FONDLY, COLLETTE RICHLAND
Off-Broadway, Play
New York Theatre Workshop
2 hours, 45 minutes (with one intermission)
Through October 18

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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