![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/H0661.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo by Craig Schwartz, as is the one at the top of the page.<\/p><\/div>\n
The writing<\/em> is good, what I could hear of it.\u00a0 But the staging is odd.\u00a0 And semi-uncomfortable.<\/p>\n There are two main problems with it.\u00a0 The first is a big one\u2014we could barely make-out what the two actors were saying.\u00a0 And I\u2019m<\/em> known to have bionic ears.\u00a0 (Trust me\u2014you don\u2019t want to whisper your secrets if you\u2019re anywhere near me.)\u00a0 People seated around me kept asking each other what the actors said, which made it even worse.\u00a0 That was due to the weird staging, which I\u2019m sure the producers thought was clever, but had nothing to do with the story, and was just trying too hard to be different. (Have I mentioned the staging?)<\/p>\n It was a skinny strip of a stage, with audience members on both sides of it, but then the body of the assemblage was in the usual Taper seating areas. That awful set meant that at least one actor\u2019s back was to a portion of the audience the entire time, even with them moving around!\u00a0 (And you regular readers know how much I love a great set, so this one was especially frustrating.) The only furnishings were a couple of chairs and tables, which would not have bothered me if I hadn\u2019t been annoyed with everything else about it. It would probably be good in a small<\/em> theater, where the dialogue can be heard in its entirety. The script<\/em> of Heisenberg<\/em> is good enough\u2014it doesn\u2019t need those pretensions.<\/p>\n Perhaps even worse than the sound<\/em> situation is what Mary-Louise Parker was doing with her speech.\u00a0 I spent at last the first ten minutes being upset that they hadn\u2019t cast a real<\/em> deaf person in the part, because I assumed the character was supposed to be hearing-challenged since that\u2019s how she was speaking.\u00a0 I thought that was going to be a big part of the narrative.\u00a0 But it turned-out that the character is not deaf at all.\u00a0 So what is up with that speech choice?!\u00a0 I cannot imagine what she was going for.<\/p>\n Not that I ever need anybody to confirm my opinions, but I do<\/em> like to be fair, so my reviews often include what other audience members think of each experience.\u00a0 I had brought along an actress friend, who always tries to be as kind as possible about the work of others, so I could not wait to hear her take on Heisenberg<\/em>, to share with you what I assumed would be her differing opinion.\u00a0 But guess what?\u00a0 She thought exactly what I did, down to assuming the character was supposed to be deaf because of Parker\u2019s peculiar speech!<\/p>\n At least, outside of that very strange way of talking, Mary-Louise\u2019s acting was good, which I\u2019m sure would have made the story interesting, if we could have gotten past all the other weaknesses of the production. But, in addition to affecting that unnerving accent, she also had a bunch of perplexing movements.\u00a0 At points, I thought she was imitating Kristen Wiig\u2019s\u00a0Saturday Night Live<\/em>\u00a0character, the Target Lady.\u00a0 [Note: I know that Mary Louise Parker is a very accomplished actress, but this is the first thing I\u2019ve ever seen her in. I know\u2014you\u2019re all shocked I never watched Weeds<\/em>. But I have no time for things like that; I\u2019m too busy living my glamorous life, and recording it all here for you guys!]<\/p>\n Photo by Craig Schwartz.<\/p><\/div>\n We could also barely make-out what Denis Arndt, the man in the show, was saying, but at that point, we just didn\u2019t care. His speech didn\u2019t thrill us either; he seemed to vacillate between accents the whole time. We heard an English accent, an Irish one, and just good old plain American, so we weren\u2019t quite sure what he was doing. (Yes, I realize he was nominated for a Tony for this role, but I have to always call ’em as I see ’em.)<\/p>\n When my actress friend and I compared notes at the end, we figured that, from what we could make out, the show is about a woman who lies and uses people, and is basically a stalker, so we didn\u2019t feel the need to explore it further. [Note: The \u201cstalker\u201d part I actually didn\u2019t mind all that much; Mr. X calls me \u201cthe stalker who won,\u201d a designation of which I\u2019m actually pretty proud!]<\/p>\n I also don\u2019t get the title, which is way too esoteric. \u00a0I never read about a play before I see it, to be able to experience it with no preconceived notions, so I erroneously thought Heisenberg was about Nobel Prize winner, Werner Karl Heisenberg, (who was portrayed in the recent mini-series,\u00a0Genius<\/em>.) And I wish it had been!\u00a0 Especially when I saw the nutty headlines of reviews, like the one we noticed as we approached the theatre, that read \u201csoaring, suspenseful, thrilling.\u201d What was that critic watching?! It may be a good play to some people, but from whence did he get \u201csuspenseful\u201d and \u201cthrilling?!\u201d It\u2019s a somewhat romantic comedy<\/em>, for gosh sakes! I kept waiting for the German spies to arrive on stage!<\/p>\n My tiny last criticism is about the wardrobe. Parker wears very shiny shoes, which are distracting, especially against her otherwise-frumpy attire. But I was probably annoyed by that as a chain reaction to the rest of my time there.<\/p>\n All that being said, Heisenberg<\/em>\u00a0is actually worth seeing, especially because, at under an hour and a half, it\u2019s such a short show.\u00a0\u00a0Just go in with very low expectations.\u00a0 And bring a hearing aid.<\/p>\n Heisenberg<\/em>\u00a0running through August 6, 2017<\/strong> HEISENBERG First of all, let me say that I absolutely love having Broadway shows here in Los Angeles. It\u2019s a real opportunity for us Angelenos, which I always appreciate, love or hate the presentations themselves. So, I guess you all know what\u2019s coming next. It turns-out that I am not a fan of\u00a0Heisenberg, which opened<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n Mark Taper Forum \u00a0135 N. Grand Ave. \u00a0213-972-4400 \u00a0www.centertheatregroup.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"