Continuity

The narrators of this play portray actors who are filming a contrived melodrama about climate change. The narrators must make their "film acting" seem credible and different from when they're "not acting." They do this adeptly while at the same time conveying the cast's shallowness and self-absorption, which stand in for the vapidity and self-absorption of a world that is failing to respond to an existential crisis. The play, awash in clich�d Hollywood sex, drug, and power jokes (and scads of swearing), is itself shallow, if brisk, a light, sometimes amusing, piece that makes some impact through an abrupt but authentically telling doomsday speech from the film's science advisor--which only serves to remind us that listening to a play about climate change is more of doing nothing. W.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

June 1, 2023

What is the hope for continued existence in a world of disaster and increasing chaos? Such is the question at the heart of Wohl's (Small Mouth Sounds) "play in six takes," which is a serious reflection on the future of climate change and a farcical send-up of Hollywood filmmaking. Harrowed director Maria (narrated by Liza Weil) and her film crew struggle to coax three alternately frustrating and frustrated actors through their performances during the climactic scene of a tottering ecoterrorism-themed blockbuster. Characters quickly fall into tired clich�s, both on and off camera--the demanding diva (narrated by Sarah Drew), the empty-headed muscleman (narrated by Johnny Berchtold), the prickly thespian (narrated by Bukola Ogunmola)--with tensions threatening the production and Maria's career. Add a script-doctor ex (narrated by Seamus Dever) and a wet-blanket science consultant (narrated by Stephen Tobolowsky, a bit-player standout), and listeners are left with a grim portrait of the future, for the movie as well as the planet. VERDICT A climate-charged spoof of filmmaking superficiality that solidly entertains but doesn't quite soar. Directed in its excellent audio format by Anna Lyse Erikson and part of L.A. Theatre Works' "Relativity Series" of science-themed plays.--Robin Chin Roemer

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.