Sunday, August 10, 2014

SURPRISE! JULIA & BUDDY got another review

The folks at the MITF posted another review of JULIA & BUDDY on their Facebook page on Saturday night. It was a nice surprise. This one is not as glowing as the first one... but that would scarcely be possible.

I found this part to be especially interesting - I didn't think about it in quite this way...
Julia, a philosopher, tries to understand Buddy and “put together the pieces of the puzzle” as she puts it, while at the same exact time Buddy seems to realize that Julia knows very little about herself: Just as Buddy figures out that Julia is calling for a maintenance man to unlock her door, when she is actually afraid of leaving the house, Julia simultaneously realizes that even though the maintenance man is supposed to fix the ills of an apartment, Buddy quite literally can’t do any of the things in his job description. The two prove to be completely self deluded as to their actual standing in the real world, not fully comprehending their own ridiculousness. However, as I watched the two figure out the other’s flaws in front of me, I found myself completely transfixed by the actors playing caricatures of people, yet truly finding the realness of both of them. Though Julia’s various phobias and stigmas and Buddy’s multiple problems and shortcomings pose a certain threat to their respective sanity, the two find solace in their understanding of one another.
Very interesting perspective. Although I regret to say that Schopenhauer is not mentioned once. The second half of the play would make more sense if the critic had a better appreciation of the role of Schopenhauer in the proceedings. I have to say, I thought the review by the college guy (also appearing in Drama-Queens.net, strange that the same media outlet reviewed it twice), while excessively hostile, at least mentioned Schopenhauer - even if he did fail to completely understand the importance of Schopenhauer to the play.