IDIOT SAVANT at the Public Theater

(Seen 10/31/09)

Iconic theatre names and talents are not enough to insure good theatre --- we see this season after season as projects that look great on paper become unbelievably distraught on stage.

Richard Foreman has written, directed, and designed this new show, as he has done for more than fifty of his numerous theatre presentations. Theatre veterans are familiar with his many trade-mark touches and idiosyncrasies. But for me, and some members of the audience when I attended, IDIOT SAVANT is a painfully, unsuccessful attempt at creating the kind of work for which his Ontological-Hysteric Theatre became famous.

Willem Dafoe returns to his Foreman roots, starring in the current creation. Obviously he is attracting many young movie fans who want to see him on stage. I hope if they are new to the theatre, they are not turned off by this ludicrous, boring, inept, repetitive work. I found the humor humorless and the performances totally precious --- though this was a perfect match for the material.