A LOT OF FISH THERE ARE: OOBLECK SHORT PLAYS
Most surprising about this evening is the lack of creativity in the plays. Rats was innovative in both its subject matter and its theatrical methods. But Fish is a wholly conservative affair, with all-too-familiar material presented in an all-too-familiar manner. Martin Greiner’s Somebody Gets Hits in the Head takes us inside the human body to watch a moment of trauma: Somebody (Danny Thompson) gets hit on the head by a Meany (Nancy Bishop). The Right Brain and Left Brain (Thompson and Bishop respectively) try to decide how best to respond, although all the Right Brain can do is bring up old, irrelevant memories. The Ear (Annette Jagner) is in a state of panic, forcing the Big Toe (Greiner) to go into action, locating the floor and finally allowing Somebody to fall over.
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Perhaps A Lot of Fish There Are is simply an aberration for Theater Oobleck. Even a genius is allowed an occasional stupid idea; it needn’t detract from the genius. Since I haven’t seen much of Oobleck’s work, I don’t know if this new production is representative of their current offerings. If it is, perhaps Oobleck has simply run out of inspiration. If not, I look forward to the return of rigorous theatrical exploration and ingenuity to their stage.
