Neurosis: 10 Short Plays

As a collection of 10 plays (due to unforseen circumstances, only nine on the night we attended) Neurosis was a dark dramedy that compelled us to think about life’s biggest issues. The plays explored themes of racism, loneliness, death, manipulation, seduction and, of course, neurosis. The scripting was clever, with an above-average vocabulary which only occasionally delved into prolix. Many of the scripts had dark punchlines which appealed to the audience’s sensibilities.

The live music was perfection and Marc Auer was delightful and captivating from the moment we entered the Lumen Room. His beautiful guitar playing and vocals helped connect the scenes and heighten the wistful mood. His welcoming and down to earth nature helped the audience feel comfortable and connect with the work.

The cast did a good job of supporting each other and had clearly worked hard to get to performance stage. The scene changes between the plays were slick and the scenes themselves were well paced. Directorially and thematically the show had a cohesiveness you might not expect from ten short works.  

The weakest moments on the night we attended were The Sale in which Lee Heath struggled to connect with and build chemistry with his co-star Shardé Anne. This mostly came down to some blocking that seemed more suited to soliloquy, with speeches directed more toward the audience than Shardé, who seemed keen for more eye-contact from her co-star.

The blocking of Antonio Peluso in Just Business was a distraction and technically unsound. The constant pacing and finger pointing with the front of stage hand twisted his body upstage throughout and obfuscated his facial expressions. This gave the impression he may have been an undisciplined, novice or nervous performer rather than it being a directorial decision.

Fear One while well-scripted, suffered from some of the acting falling a little short on maintaining a mood that supported the dialogue. The final moments of Fear One were stronger though, as the actors found a connection and the pacing improved.

The best acting of the night was from Julia Johnson in The Captive by Greg Andreas. The titillating, sex-charged story of a lonely housewife who dreams of being seen as a sexual being was bravely and confidently executed. The costuming in this scene was gorgeous too.  

Tristan Trisydo Concepcion was excellently focussed in his solo role in Reno (Silent). He showed very good timing which helped to ease the audience back into the mood of the show after interval.

Not for the easily offended, Neurosis: 10 Short Plays contains obscene language and racial slurs throughout almost all plays. There are a lot of very adult themes including suicide. It’s refreshing to view a collection of short works that doesn’t dumb itself down and instead assumes the audience is intelligent. The show was philosophical and thought-provoking; definitely an engaging evening of theatre for those who enjoy being mentally stimulated by deeper concepts.

Kiesten McCauley