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A CurtainUp Review

The Home for Lost Boys
By Jenny Sandman


We will return to this house and haunt you until the end of time, until you cease to exist. . .

The Home for Lost Boys, described as a fable, is a perfect example of heavy-handed metaphor. Three orphaned brothers are about to legally inherit their parents' house when a strange boy shows up, claiming the land actually belonged to his great-grandparents and therefore to him. Playwright Craig J. Weiner uses every possible opportunity to remind us that the metaphor applies to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The most obvious example of this is at the end of the first act, when the boys' caretaker unfurls a map of the land, the map being of Israel.

The boys, Kirio, Gallis, and Jip, are being raised by their caretaker, Mr. Newman. Their parents and older brother were killed defending the land. Now that Jip is about to turn 18, the boys stand to inherit the house and land. But a strange boy, Iggy, shows up days before the transfer, claiming his great-grandparents actually owned the propery first. They were forcibly removed, and Iggy claims to have proof of prior ownership. The boys begin to fight, each faction trying to drive the other out. Then they try to split the property with fences, which doesn't work either. The final fight ends in a disaster that destroys the house. The parallels would be obvious without constantly referring to them as such. By the end, it feels as we've been watching an exercise in beating a dead horse.

The play is also dramaturgically messy. It's too long by half, with not enough story to sustain forward movement. It drags and almost stops completely at some points, relying on too much character development to pull it forward. And, like most plays about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it neither tells us anything new or illuminates the conflict in any new and interesting way. The play is also shrill--as you might expect, there's a lot of fighting, and a lot of yelling. The characters come across as annoying, since Weiner neglects to give the audience any basis for emotional involvement with the boys. A much older man plays a 17-year-old boy, with predictably confusing results. There are weird, loud sound collages between scenes--honking horns, Internet dial-up noises--that have nothing to do with the rest of the play. To make matters worse, the performances are flat, and director Renee Blinkwolt failed to rein in the actors' more animated tendencies.

A good dramaturg could have saved the play. A strong director could have saved the production.

THE HOME FOR LOST BOYS
Written by Craig J. Weiner
Directed by Renee Blinkwolt
With Cameron Cash, Lexy Fridell, Gary Littman, John Michalski and Jonathan Monk
Costume Design by Carla Bellisio
Sound Design by Elizabeth S. Coleman
Lighting Design by Evan O'Brient
Set Design by Marie Lynn Wagner
Running time: Two hours with one fifteen-minute intermission
John Houseman Studio Theater, 450 West 42nd Street, 212-868-4444; Wednesday through Saturday at 8 pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm. All tickets $15.
03/04/05 to 03/20/05
Reviewed by Jenny Sandman based on March 9th performance
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