An Unbelievably Boring Play about ADD

Distracted. Mark Taper Forum. 4/10/07.

I hated this play. Actively. It was a preachy play that held absolutely no interest for me. By the end of the play I disagreed with every position and hated every character. The play was slow and redundant with very little character arc or plot arc. It felt like once again a play for old people, which held very little interest to my queer, non-reproducing self. All it served to do was convince me that I never wanted to have kids.

The tragedy is that this play was actually in many ways well-done by many talented people, and yet it was still so boring and infuriating that I considered both leaving mid-scene and throwing things at the main character. There was absolutely no justification for this to be a full two-hour play. Nothing actually happened except a lot of whining.

The people involved in this distracted disaster of a play, however, were extremely talented. Rita Wilson is a beautiful and compelling actress. Why in hell did her character have to be named "Mama"? Why didn't she have a job and a life of her own instead of spending the whole time running around to doctors fussing about her kid? Ray Porter as Dad was also an extremely talented actor but not a particularly compelling character. The several supporting doctor and teacher characters played by Bronson Pinchot and Stephanie Barry were also well done and demonstrate impressive acting skill and range. Unfortunately, that's not nearly enough to liven up this infuriating play.

Even though Lisa Loomer, who is actually a quite talented playwright, disappointed me severely with this piece, her heart is clearly in the right place. Her skill with dialogue is impressive and I'm happy to see a play by a female playwright with a female lead, even if I hated her. She's dealing with issues of family and motherhood that don't get enough time onstage. While I would very much have liked this to be a better play, preferably including a few less priveledged and self-involved characters, I'm mostly glad that it got produced. Better this than more David Mamet, certainly. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I'm disappointed that the Taper seems to be doing plays exclusively intended for middle-aged rich white parents. Thus far, nothing I've seen there this season would appeal to anyone else. Boring.