White Rabbit, Red Rabbit

I went to see a theatre performance today called White Rabbit Red Rabbit. It is a one man show, starring Joe Pantoliano.

Joey (as he is more commonly referred to as) is a pretty famous actor. He not only has played many major movie roles like, Guido the Killer Pimp in Risky Business, or Teddy in Memento, but he is famous for many other roles on TV and in the theatre. Despite all of this though, this one man show, something showcasing a single actor with no one to take any of the attention away from them, was able to strip Joey of all the fame and his name and credentials and just turn him into a vessel for the play write.

It is a play written in 2010 by an Iranian writer named Nassim Soleimanpour. Soleimanpour uses the play, and the words, to create an existential question and even conversation with the writer and the audience. He talks about being able to speak, in a way, with people who he does not know exist, and who do not know is face. He does this by having a single actor do a cold read (as in the actor does not get the script until they appear on stage) of his script. Where he makes the audience complete tasks by leaving instructions in the script. He turns the actor into a simple vessel for his words to the audience, and is even able to control us from not only another country but another time entirely. It is an incredible piece that brings up so many questions. It questions why we are here, and the purpose of even doing anything, along with the futility of attempting to climb the ladder of success while bragging about how the view looks from the top.

It is a wonderful play, that everyone should go see. It will make you question the meaning of words and actions, and even the meaning of life itself.

P.S.

Shane if you're reading this, I immediately thought that you would LOVE this show. I HIGHLY recommend taking the trip up to New York to go see it if you haven't yet, I have never seen a more perfect show for you.