White Rabbit Red Rabbit
White Rabbit Red Rabbit is an almost unreviewable show, constructed in such a way that each performance is unique. The evening’s entertainment begins with an actor (a different one each night), who is completely unfamiliar with the material, walking onstage and being given a copy of the script, which they must then deliver as a cold-read to the audience.
Nassim Soleimanpour’s script is a meandering hodgepodge of “children’s storybook” style fables (including the tale of a poor rabbit who goes to the circus and ends up getting chased by a bear), various philosophical monologues (such as the ways in which an artist can live vicariously through their creations and the forces that can drive one to commit suicide) and wacky audience participation activities (such as inviting people to come onstage and imitate various animals).
In covering serious topics, Soleimanpour’s language tends to talk down to his audience and the pompously condescending tone becomes wearisome very quickly. Also, much of his humorous material is undermined by an excessive self-awarenes; it’s the intellectual equivalent of a comedian who can’t stop laughing at their own jokes.
On opening night Amber McMahon gave a heartfelt reading; her warmth softened the blow of the script’s heavy handed passages. The audience members called upon to come onstage and participate did so with flair, their amiable bemusement providing the heartiest laughs of the evening.
Perhaps this is one of those love/hate shows where you either “get it” or you don’t, and I “just don’t get it”. Audience reaction was a mixture of wild guffaws and cringing impatience. For me, White Rabbit Red Rabbit felt like a drama class exercise stretched out to a one hour show, and an example of postmodernism at its most insufferably smug.
Benjamin Orchard
Image: Nassim Soleimanpour (Photographer: Nima Soleimanpour).
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