Review: THE EXIT INTERVIEW
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Review: THE EXIT INTERVIEW
By Toby Zinman
For the Inquirer
Like most Concept Art, The Exit Interview is better as a concept than as art. Written by William Missouri Downs, and directed by Seth Rozin, the play is a sometimes entertaining sometimes tedious satire about God and the world. Or about faith and atheism. Or about science and theology. Or about the commercialization of art, the crassness of contemporary news media, the fecklessness of academia, the objectification of women, the horrors of gun violence or, alternatively, the horrors of oboe obsession, or….Well, you get the idea: too much. Way too much topic, way too little play.
The plot premise is the “exit interview” of a fired college professor, one Dick (“I prefer Richard”—well, he would, wouldn’t he?) Fig (the estimable Dan Hodge). Conducting the interview is a shallow human resources type (the always fine Cheryl Williams) who believes she can prove God loves her by making a collage of her wished-for life. A masked gunman appears, terrorizing the campus, motives unknown.
The stylistic premise is that Richard Fig’s academic specialty is Bertolt Brecht. Brecht, Famous Modern German Playwright, believed that the way to make audiences think was to keep them from emotional involvement in the play. To accomplish this he used what is known as “the alienation effect” (it’s better in German), a technique of illusion-breaking by suddenly having the characters break into song, or dance or startling jokiness or directly addressing the audience.
And so Downs uses the Brechtian technique for his play, adding cheerleaders (Meghan Malloy and Jennifer MacMillan who is a knockout) which was my favorite bit, as well as product placement, a debate between scientists having temper tantrums and Morman believers with the golden tablets on display, TV underwear commercials, an interviewer (Eric Kramer) from Fox News, young mothers small-talking on a park bench, the occasional Irish bishop (David Bardeen) and…well, you get the idea. The kitchen sink approach.
William Missouri Downs isn’t nearly as funny—or as profound—as he apparently thinks he is. What carries The Exit Interview is the excellence of the cast who can pull all this off with style and grace and quick costume changes. The problem is that no matter how good they are, Bertolt Brecht was not anybody’s idea of the King of Comedy. A favorite quote: “He who laughs has not yet heard the bad news.” Ha ha ha.
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InterAct Theatre Company at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St. Through Nov.11. Tickets $20-37. Information: 215-568-8077 or www.InterActTheatre.org
I've never commented on a story before...I guess that's a sign of how much I disagree.
I guess nobody told the audience the play wasn't funny, as the laughter at the show was pretty much nonstop and there was a standing ovation at the end. I'm not sure what Ms. Zinman's litmus test for profundity is, but this play has more weighty ideas and concepts in it in ten minutes than most plays manage in their entire runtime. Ms. Zinman can insult the playwright all she wants, but if you're looking for a comedy that won't insult your intelligence, this is a hearty recommend.— thinman13- Please be advised that you have misspelled the word "Mormon" in your review. I saw the play and I think you've missed a lot there too.— shortyw
- I agree with the previous post. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I found the play to be hilarious and thought provoking. In fact, I have friends in town next weekend and am recommending that they go and see it. Regardless of whether or not you agree with us or the critic, the fact that there is a debate surrounding the play proves it's validity as a piece of theatre worth seeing. It will provide a good conversation and a good laugh.— tinapples12
- This critic has her head up her..... I thought this play was one of the most hysterical pieces of "art" I have ever experienced. The standing ovation was proof that I was not the only one that feels this way. Mr. Downs was brilliant in his writing. The cast was wonderful. Talking about asses..I laughed mine off. Well done!!!! I loved loved loved this play!!!!!— Yalestrechforsteve
- As an active member of the theatre community, and frequent theatregoer, I know who Toby Zinman is. I was sitting a row above and several seats over from her at the opening performance of EXIT INTERVIEW. She was laughing throughout the performance, like everyone else there, so I don't know how she has the gall to say the show isn't funny. Then again, she doesn't have a whole lot of credibility with serious theatre people.— slewis
- Wow, I thought the arts were all about expressing yourself and encouraging autonomy. Everyone's permitted to have an opinion, even if it doesn't concur with your own, "serious" theatre Gestapo.— Jabey
- This was a wonderful play - a comedy with content - tightly written and well acted and directed. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have recommended it to my friends. About the critic - I've read her pieces before and she does have a bias. She just doesn't connect with political theatre. The sad thing is theatre criticism disappearing from our local newspapers. With a limited number of critics, we're going to be subjected to a limited number of narrow opinions.— DoctorS
- I couldn't disagree more with this critic. I thoroughly enjoyed this show. It was a wonderfully inspiring piece of hilarious political theatre. I never felt overwhelmed by too much "kitchen sink" action. Rather, Downs' writing, as always, was side-splittingly spot on. Perhaps she just couldn't think of anything as entertaining as his play to write as a commentary. Hey, we all gotta keep our jobs somehow...and Downs is doing it by keeping us laughing our asses off, opening our minds, and filling those seats. Bravo to the cast and crew of EXIT INTERVIEW!!!— TheatreLover
- I agree, Dan Hodge is estimable.— pfeif34
- Ignore any comments from Jabey, good or bad. He's a vengeful wannabe talentless theatre artist who likes to go to openings night and drink the free beer and then write unjustified comments on reviews under an alias. He's an overweight Flyers fan lacking a career as well as a backbone, so a part of me feels sorry for him. The other part thanks The Lord that I am lucky to be nothing like him, blessed with both a career and a backbone.
On a lighter note, I agree that Dan Hodge is estimable. Looking forward to seeing the show.— GingerDayle - Not sure what show Zinman saw, but I'm pretty sure he didn't see Downs's Exit Interview. If he had, maybe he would realize that Zinman is the one with no sense of humor or cultural awareness. Great show. Audience seemed to absolutely love it, as well. My guess is that Zinman only heard what he wanted to hear and probably didn't even stay for the entire show. Another cranky critic who gets paid to air out his low self esteem by ripping apart good theatre.— BrownPenny
Toby Zinman's night job since 2006 is theater critic for the Inquirer. She also is a contributing writer for Variety and American Theatre magazine. Her day job: Prize-winning prof at UArts, author of four books about four playwrights (Rabe, McNally, Miller, Albee), and doer of scholarly deeds (winner of five NEH grants, Fulbright lecturer at Tel Aviv University, visiting professor in China). Her 'weekend' job as a travel writer provides adventure: dogsledding in the Yukon, ziplining in Belize, walking coast-to-coast across England, and cowboying in the Australian Outback.
Wendy Rosenfield has written freelance features and theater reviews for The Inquirer since 2006. She was theater critic for the Philadelphia Weekly from 1995 to 2001, after which she enjoyed a five-year baby-raising sabbatical. She serves on the board of the American Theatre Critics Association, was a participant in the Bennington Writer's Workshop, a 2008 NEA/USC Fellow in Theater and Musical Theater, and twice was guest critic for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival's Region II National Critics Institute. She received her B.A. from Bennington College and her M.L.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. She also is a fiction writer, was proofreader to a swami, publications editor for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and spends all her free time working out and driving people places. Follow her on Twitter @WendyRosenfield.
Jim Rutter has reviewed theater for The Inquirer since September, 2011. Since 2006, he covered dance, theater and opera for the Broad Street Review, and has also written for many suburban newspapers, including The Main Line Times. In 2009, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a Fellowship in Arts Journalism. Thames & Hudson released his updated and revised version of Ballet and Modern Dance in June, 2012. From 1998 to 2005, he taught philosophy and logic at Drexel, and then Widener University. He also coaches Olympic Weightlifting for Liberty Barbell, and has competed at the national level in that sport since 2001.
Merilyn Jackson regularly writes on dance for The Inquirer and other publications. She specializes in the arts, literature, food, travel, and Eastern European culture and politics. In 2001, she was dance critic in residence at the Festival of Contemporary Dance in Bytom, Poland; in 2005, she received an NEA Critics’ Fellowship to Duke University’s Institute for Dance Criticism. She likes to say that dance was her first love but that when she discovered writing she began to cheat on dance. Now that she writes about dance, she’s made an honest woman of herself, although she also writes poetry.
