Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Few at the Old Globe

Eva Kaminsky as QZ and Michael Laurence as Bryan.
Eva Kaminsky as QZ and Michael Laurence as Bryan.

The Few

John Donne said “no man is an island.” Playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s world premiere disagrees. Matthew, QZ, and Bryan live sealed-off, isolated lives, though a thousand miles from any ocean.

More to the point, they’re cut off from themselves.

The millennium’s at hand. A time for reflection and, as Louise tells Thelma, a time “let go of the old mistakes.”

Maybe that’s why Bryan’s come back to the Northern Idaho newspaper he and trucker-buddy Jim started four years ago. Maybe not. Bryan’s mostly mum on most topics.

The Few was a journal for voiceless truckers to tell their stories and have a sanctuary during or after a long haul. Some say the enterprise was a success, even though when Bryan left it was $12,000 in the hole.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Now QZ’s turned things around. The paper now has 15 pages of personal ads, a horoscope (which she makes up), and her column. It’s become a terse, USA Today for the lovelorn.

Eva Kaminsky as QZ.

(A guy’s ad reads: “I like sex. And it’s important for me to have that”).

We never learn what her initials mean. And QZ was what? Bryan’s X? Of sorts? Not quite clear, except that all she tells him now is to “shut up!” Often. Gratingly often.

Young Matthew (who writes poems, he says, but isn’t a poet) provides links between past and present. Like the people who phone in personal ads, he talks in fragments - about the paper’s original idealism, about maybe his hero Bryan coming back.

The Few’s doing something I like a lot. As privacy becomes more and more an endangered species (the “social” media will probably declare it a sin by 2020), Hunter creates characters we don’t know everything about. He doesn’t Google us their bios. Or give us handy traits we can sum up. We only have what’s before us.

In Godfather II, after his brother arrives at the Senate Hearing and Frankie Five Angels goes silent, Michael Corleone says to his wife, “it was between the brothers, Kate.” We will never know what that was (nor, the movie suggests, are we entitled to).

The characters in Few remain mysterious even after the curtain falls.

Though not necessarily original, the writing is daring for these times of alleged emotional opaqueness.

But somewhere between the script and the staging, it falls flat.

Matthew, QZ, and Bryan are icebergs – and icy to boot. Director Davis McCallum moves the piece at a near-glacial pace. Though there are moments of humor – in some of the ads – the over-all tone is so cold stone sober it’s as if Mr. Godot pulled up in an 18-wheeler, by mistake, and sucked all the air out of the office.

Eva Kaminsky, superb in the Globe’s Good People, has no room to move and plays QZ as a one-note harpy. Young Gideon Glick expresses sincere feelings but often speaks so fast he blurs key lines.

Michael Laurence’s Bryan does the opposite. He takes forever to talk. When he does he consistently stops, mid-sentence, then runs through to the next mid-sentence and stops again. Laurence plays true to the character, but he hits the gravitas note so hard he drags scenes down.

Dane Laffrey’s set struck a nostalgic note for me. Small, creamy-white video display terminals, stacks of browning newspapers, catalogues of stuff in cardboard boxes, a ceramic water cooler – reminded me of the old Reader office at State Street. A difference: the set’s so clogged with details it feels (appropriately) claustrophobic.

Which works.

Though the characters need more breathing room.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Hip-hop artist Don Elway makes movies for his music

Not Ordinary EP tells a story of life on the streets
Next Article

Gilbert Castellanos, Buddha Trixie, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Shane Hall, Brian Jones Rock ‘N’ Roll Revival

Grand Socials, gigs, and record releases in Del Mar, City Heights, Solana Beach, Little Italy, and Ocean Beach
Eva Kaminsky as QZ and Michael Laurence as Bryan.
Eva Kaminsky as QZ and Michael Laurence as Bryan.

The Few

John Donne said “no man is an island.” Playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s world premiere disagrees. Matthew, QZ, and Bryan live sealed-off, isolated lives, though a thousand miles from any ocean.

More to the point, they’re cut off from themselves.

The millennium’s at hand. A time for reflection and, as Louise tells Thelma, a time “let go of the old mistakes.”

Maybe that’s why Bryan’s come back to the Northern Idaho newspaper he and trucker-buddy Jim started four years ago. Maybe not. Bryan’s mostly mum on most topics.

The Few was a journal for voiceless truckers to tell their stories and have a sanctuary during or after a long haul. Some say the enterprise was a success, even though when Bryan left it was $12,000 in the hole.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Now QZ’s turned things around. The paper now has 15 pages of personal ads, a horoscope (which she makes up), and her column. It’s become a terse, USA Today for the lovelorn.

Eva Kaminsky as QZ.

(A guy’s ad reads: “I like sex. And it’s important for me to have that”).

We never learn what her initials mean. And QZ was what? Bryan’s X? Of sorts? Not quite clear, except that all she tells him now is to “shut up!” Often. Gratingly often.

Young Matthew (who writes poems, he says, but isn’t a poet) provides links between past and present. Like the people who phone in personal ads, he talks in fragments - about the paper’s original idealism, about maybe his hero Bryan coming back.

The Few’s doing something I like a lot. As privacy becomes more and more an endangered species (the “social” media will probably declare it a sin by 2020), Hunter creates characters we don’t know everything about. He doesn’t Google us their bios. Or give us handy traits we can sum up. We only have what’s before us.

In Godfather II, after his brother arrives at the Senate Hearing and Frankie Five Angels goes silent, Michael Corleone says to his wife, “it was between the brothers, Kate.” We will never know what that was (nor, the movie suggests, are we entitled to).

The characters in Few remain mysterious even after the curtain falls.

Though not necessarily original, the writing is daring for these times of alleged emotional opaqueness.

But somewhere between the script and the staging, it falls flat.

Matthew, QZ, and Bryan are icebergs – and icy to boot. Director Davis McCallum moves the piece at a near-glacial pace. Though there are moments of humor – in some of the ads – the over-all tone is so cold stone sober it’s as if Mr. Godot pulled up in an 18-wheeler, by mistake, and sucked all the air out of the office.

Eva Kaminsky, superb in the Globe’s Good People, has no room to move and plays QZ as a one-note harpy. Young Gideon Glick expresses sincere feelings but often speaks so fast he blurs key lines.

Michael Laurence’s Bryan does the opposite. He takes forever to talk. When he does he consistently stops, mid-sentence, then runs through to the next mid-sentence and stops again. Laurence plays true to the character, but he hits the gravitas note so hard he drags scenes down.

Dane Laffrey’s set struck a nostalgic note for me. Small, creamy-white video display terminals, stacks of browning newspapers, catalogues of stuff in cardboard boxes, a ceramic water cooler – reminded me of the old Reader office at State Street. A difference: the set’s so clogged with details it feels (appropriately) claustrophobic.

Which works.

Though the characters need more breathing room.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Next Article

Tyler Farr, Blue Water Film Festival, Mustache Bash

Events March 21-March 23, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.