By Aashiq
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dASYMwplWC8
Available until: I don’t know and they don’t have to tell
us.
Aren’t late people just the most annoying people in the
world? Don’t they just make you want to scream and stamp your foot and do all
kinds of other things you really should have grown out of by now?
Okay, I’ll be honest. I have no idea if late people are
annoying or not. Nobody ever arrives after I do so how could I possibly know?
But I’ve been told I’m really annoying when I’m late and it seems only fair to
take their word for it.
Izzy is waiting at a restaurant for her friend Lillian. Lillian is late and Izzy is aggravated. There are so many things that aggravate her about Lillian and she’s starting to wonder if their friendship is really a good thing. If the good things really make up for all the stress. Some friendships are just toxic and you need to walk away for your own mental health.
Jessica Moss has written this play very cleverly. Before Lillian
arrives, we mostly just hear Izzy’s thoughts (there’s a brief interaction with
a waitress), but after Lillian arrives, we hear both Izzy’s thoughts and the
things she actually says out loud. It sounds confusing, but I never got
confused. Not even once. The difference between what Izzy thinks and what she
says is very clear. I also like the way Jessica allows Izzy to be so completely
honest about her feelings. Izzy’s thoughts are very negative and it could come
across badly, but it doesn’t.
This is partly because Alexandra Lemus characterises Izzy so
well. She kind of made me feel three different things at once (which is totally
okay, I’m usually feeling at least three different things at once. I’m just not
usually this clear on exactly what these three things are). I felt sad
that Izzy is feeling so stressed and how difficult her life is. (Why does life
have to be so hard?). I felt worried about what might happen if Izzy
said what was on her mind and how that might affect her.
And finally, I was kind of in hysterics about how funny
Izzy is. I actually quite like it when people moan (as long as I’m not the
reason they’re moaning). It’s usually better not to burst out laughing in the
middle of someone’s big rant, but people can come out with some great lines
when they’re uninhibitedly angry, whether it’s something they don’t really mean
or something they actually really do mean. Either way it can be so memorably
expressed. Alexandra’s comic timing is brilliant and it makes Izzy loveable.
Who cares if she’s moaning? She’s really funny.
Ali Astin plays the role of Lillian. It’s clear that
everything Izzy says about her is true, but because of the humour in the
situation, I don’t actually dislike Lillian. And… maybe she’s not actually as
bad as she seems. Also in the play is Christina Zamora, who gets to show two
sides of the waitress – her working persona and her personal one.
There are some great descriptions of mental health issues in
this play. Putting your negative thoughts and feelings into words is so
difficult to do and it was especially hard as Jessica not only had to write a
good description, she had to explain it in words that her character could
believably say. If it was unrealistically clear, it would become a less
convincing description of mental health problems, but if it’s not clear enough,
then it will be harder for the audience to understand and relate to it. I
thought Jessica judged this really well. I’m jealous.
I’m not telling you what happened. I’m kind of dying to, but
it’s also quite fun refusing to tell anyone anything so I’ll focus on that for
now. But one more thing I really love about this play is the reminder that
sometimes people can surprise you. Not everyone does what you’re expecting all
the time. I know I don’t. I do actually quite often arrive on time. I just tend
to be a bit more memorable when I’m in such a hurry, I end up tripping over the
threshlols.
But (and this is another thing this play shows really well),
while it’s people’s aggravating qualities that tend to be more memorable,
there’s so much more to everyone than that.
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