 |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||||
|
archive |
about
us |
links |
contact |
current | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
The
Water Engine Group: 78th Street Theatre Lab |
| Dolan Cummings | |
|
A young amateur inventor comes up with an engine that runs on water. He plans to patent it, get rich and live happily ever after in the country with his sister. Yeah, right. This is an early David Mamet play, and a pretty direct refutation of the American dream, at least in its more naïve incarnations. The Water Engine was originally a radio play, and this production has most of the cast reading from scripts into old-fashioned microphones. While perhaps awkward at first, this effectively emphasises the tragic quality of the play. Everybody knows what is going to happen, except the young hero himself, who hasn't read the script. Set during the Chicago World's Fair in the 1930s, the play captures the sense of optimism of 'A Century of Progress', tinged with an almost totalitarian menace. For all the talk of enterprise and opportunity, it is clear that this America is no place for a young man to unveil such an earth-shattering innovation. His refusal to sell out to big business is touching, but the result is predictable. The Water Engine doesn't offer solutions; and this production in particular is a celebration of naivety rather than a critique of capitalism, but it is no less thought-provoking, and indeed enjoyable, for that. 1
August to 25 August.
| |