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A CurtainUp Review
Bad Jazz

We're living in this world as if nothing we do has any real consequence on anything. . .The world's fucked, it's really fucked.—Hannah
Bad Jazz
Marin Ireland in Bad Jazz
(Photo: Carol Rosegg)
Robert Farquhar's latest play, Bad Jazz, reminds me of plays like Edward Bond's Saved (review), or possibly an early Quentin Tarantino. It's brash, often completely over the top, and occasionally violent — and some of it is in very poor taste. Despite, or perhaps because of this, it's entertaining, and certainly unforgettable.

The play involves some intricate layering of reality. Natasha and Danny are rehearsing a play in which she plays a whore and he a junkie. Along the way, they become similarly involved in real life. He becomes a junkie, and she. . .well, you can imagine. They have several scenes together that leave us usure as to whether they're rehearsing their roles or if it's "real." Gavin, their director, spurs them to ever-greater heights of emotional reality so it doesn't take long for their personal lives to keep intruding in very real and unwanted ways.

All this probably sounds like a cautionary tale, but it's not. . There's no moralizing despite some very outré elements (oral sex, anal sex, vomiting, a strap-on dildo, bloody intestines a dead dog, and more). Obviously this can be a hard play to watch. In fact, it proved too much for at least one audience member when I attended. However, most of the audience seemed to enjoy it, usually laughing at the really exaggerated parts (which, I think, is the point).

Marin Ireland (Natasha) comes to this play fresh from a great performance in The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. She's a talent to watch. Her Natasha is emotionally pitch-perfect. Ryan O'Nan as the bumbling Danny is quite comical in his complete ineffectualness, and Rob Campbell is a delight as the frenetic director He embodies all the stereotypes of angry directors, without coming across as a stereotype.

Director Trip Cullman has used the strangely shaped Ohio Theatre to great advantage. Rather than boxing off a playing area, he simply lets the actors and sets roam so that we see all the real-life bits of the venue (racks of lights, costumes, random lamps, etc.) being utilized as part of the play's rehearsal and performance space. Cullman keeps the actors from being either too frenetic or too shrill, emphasizing the search for human connection that is at the heart of the play.

Bad Jazz
Written by Robert Farquhar
Directed by Trip Cullman
With Marin Ireland (Natasha), Darren Goldstein (Ben), Ryan O'Nan (Danny), Rob Campbell (Gavin), Susie Pourfar (Hannah/Danielle), and Colby Chambers (Ewan)
Set & Costume Design: Dane Laffrey
Lighting Design: Ben Stanton
Sound and original music: Bart Fasbender
Running Time: Ninety minutes, with no intermission
Ohio Theatre, 66 Wooster Street; 212-868-4444
Tuesday through Sunday at 8 pm, Saturday at 4 pm; no evening performances November 22 or 25; additional 4 pm Sunday matinees on November 18 and 25
Tickets $25
Through November 25th
Reviewed by Jenny Sandman based on November 10th performance

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