THE EMERALD
The stories of Donald Barthelme offer actors a lot to sink their teeth into. His writing is concise, imaginative, and clever without being arch. His plot lines, when his stories have them, move effortlessly forward. His stories are playful, though the elements he plays with have deep psychological associations; the result is that his writing seems paradoxically flip and heartfelt at the same time–and therein lies its beauty and power. A favorite example from Overnight to Many Distant Cities:
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“Areas of the city, they told us, had been designed to rot, fall into desuetude, return, in time, to open space. Perhaps, they said, fawns would one day romp there, on the crumbling brick. We were slightly skeptical about this part of the plan, but it was, after all, a plan, the ferocious integrity of the detailing impressed us all . . . ”
The story is wildly imaginative and fast-paced, written almost entirely in short snippets of dialogue. Knee Deep’s production is aptly sparse, with no set and only essential set pieces and props. Director Thad Davis doesn’t clutter the story with typical theatrics (like blocking out the actors’ movements) but instead lets it run as freely as he can (although his use of full blackouts between scenes seriously inhibits the play’s momentum).
