Thanks to Seattle Comp Tickets and a promotional that Balagan Theater was running I was able to see the play Edmond on Sunday night. For FREE! (My favorite.)
Edmond is the story of a sad, angry man that comes into contact with many unfortunate circumstances and reacts to them all in the worst possible ways. Tagline: "Do you know what madness is?"
I knew nothing of this play before seeing it except that my friend Josi insured me that since it was a David Mamet play we would probably hear the word 'cunt' at least once. We did. More than once. Among many other angry and often racially charged slurs.
I have been to Balagan Theater once before to see The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, which I loved. (Also for free because the founder of the theater is a graduate of my MFA program.) The set for Signs of Intelligent Life was pretty minimal, in a good way. It was a lot of mirror fragments glued to the walls, floor, and ceiling and a couple of large wooden boxes that could be sat on. It was a one woman show and the one woman used this hilarious shopping cart/bed/chair/hat to contact aliens.
I was thrilled to see how different the layout was for the set of Edmond. There was a long table in the center of the room and the seats for the audience were on all four walls. There were two large screens suspended from the ceiling and facing each other and two rows of track lights that seemed to work perfectly regardless of the nature and setting of the scene. Balagan was completely transformed.
During the production the two screens would show scenes of city nightlife and lights. Perhaps my favorite moment was when Edmond was being questioned in front of a camera by police officers and the screens began to show a live feed of his interrogation. Very cool.
The story starts with a man leaving his wife and then heading out into the city where occurrences quickly go from bad to worse. As the audience we quickly realize that Edmond himself is mostly a really bad person. Really there is only once throughout the production that I felt pity for him. I won't give it away but let's just say I tend to wind up seeing plays that involve some sort of forced guy on guy sexual act.
Throughout the performance I was struck with this wonderful and nearly tangible feeling of discomfort and despair. I also realized that I kept unintentionally holding my breath. I left with the urge to go home and expose myself to something joyous in hopes of erasing the angry and horrible feelings.
Sam Hagan was the actor playing Edmond and I was completely impressed with his ability to yell. There was a lot of yelling in this play and this guy could really yell. Not just yell but the content of his yelling was words and phrases that I could never whisper alone in my room much less yell at another person, in front of a room full of people. Actors must be very brave.
Balagan posted an article about Edmond, Mamet and, the play which is where I learned that it has also been made into a movie starring William H. Macy as Edmond. The article quotes Mamet as having said that Edmond is a story of how, "An everyman descends into the maelstrom of big city degradation." I instantly added the movie to my Netflix. Something about William H. Macy playing him seems like a whole new world from this play. I think it would be easier to get on board with Macy as a victim of the city rather than a victim of his own inhumanity (if that is even the message). I am kind of imagining him in his roles in Pleasantville and Magnolia and how he is such a victim and lacks control and therefore makes poor decisions. I also think that I would have an easier time feeling sorry for him than I did Sam Hagan.
The performance certainly evokes some intense emotions. It may have been a little much for me on a Sunday night, but then again I would not have wished to start off a Friday or Saturday with such an unfortunate emotion.
The Article
Balagan Theater
Seattle Comp Tickets
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