Baggage - Players of Notorious Temerity - U of M Rarig Center Arena

This one's the only company out of my top three favorites in last year's Fringe that is back again with a new show. And they've done it again. But don't take my word for it. See for yourself...

(Mom gives it a 3-1/2, but I give it a 5)

First up, I've just have to say, and I realize this has been a polarizing issue - there's a buffalo fish in this play.

Now, if that's a draw for you, then come on down, we have the play for you.

If, however, as I encountered waiting in a Fringe line or two, this is for some reason just a little to "out there" sounding for your taste, then please don't let it put you off.

The buffalo fish is a couple of cameo appearances at best, not a major player. They are all quite human.

So, don't let a buffalo fish put you off of a mighty fine pair of plays on the subject of travel and a feeling of being displaced.

On to the plays themselves...

What can I say, I love Dan O'Neil's writing - a lot. It's funny, it's human, it's political in the best sense of the word - meaning the politics is arising out of actual human contact, with human consequences, rather than being just some lofty, cerebral discussion. The sense of wonder, and loss, and possibility, and melancholy just makes me ache with his lost characters - lost often both physically and emotionally here.

He is one of the better writers producing work in the Twin Cities right now. And I don't toss around that compliment lightly. There's a lot of good writers in this town. I consider Dan to be up there with the best of them.

Baggage is not one play but in fact two plays on a related theme, tied together by the slenderest of threads - a train thrumming across the open plains of North Dakota passes through the story of the characters in the first play, and is the setting for the characters in the second play. If you're looking for continuous narrative, carrying the same characters through from start to finish, that's not the dog this play is hunting with. It's just two stories under the same thematic umbrella, if you will. And when the plays are this intriguing, I don't mind.

First half - North Dakota - Two young soldiers wind up stranded in the middle of nowhere - and have two very different responses to their plight.

This is the more immediately engaging and accessible of the two plays in the production, which is a good way to go to start off. This is the pair of characters that Mom responded to most strongly (and she missed them when they were gone).

The two young soldiers are Joe (Adri Mehra- the spirit of Jack Kerouac in last year's great PNT production of Desolation In America) and Avery (Colin Waitt, who, in addition to being a great match for an acting duo with Adri, meeting him on his level, is, frankly, adorable - eye candy notification, served).

Joe can't wait to find a way out of their stranded predicament in the middle of nowhere and get back to civilization. Avery quickly becomes enamored of the idea of bonding with the land and leaving the "real world" behind.

Because, back in the real world, the two of them are set for redeployment to another, more dangerous desert, in a foreign country (these days, that unfortunately doesn't narrow it down much, I know.) The two men's different feelings about the necessity of violence to survival, and the limits of friendship, are explored and tested.

Since this all sounds like pretty heavy material, I hasten to add that it is, like last year's PNT outing, extremely funny stuff. And unlike Desolation In America, the politics here are so submerged in the personal as to be practically unnoticeable.

I can understand Mom's desire to remain with these two characters longer. They are immediately likeable, and in a very tough spot, that they handle with a lot of humor and good will. They are easy to root for, and you hope, ultimately, that they will make it. Chances are, they will.

And of course, there is the buffalo fish. In case you're wondering as it goes by, the director is manipulating its enormous head.

In the second half, the titular piece - Baggage - Three strangers on a train passing through the lonely plains at night, and a mysterious piece of luggage, unfold their secrets.

Well, not entirely. But in a great audience moment right after the show, one man just walked right up to the mysterious piece of baggage and looked inside. He desperately wanted the solution to the mystery.

But the second play isn't really about what's in the bag. It's about the slowly unfolding identities of the three passengers as they circle each other while the train passes from the dark of night into the hours of the early morning.

Marlin (Sam L. Landman, part of a great ensemble in the underrated Penumbra production of Sex Diary of an Infidel) is the talkative one.

Neon (Nikki Schultz) is the acerbic jailbait one.

Jack (Grant Henderson) is the quiet one, carrying someone else's baggage around with him.

These days, you might be concerned there's bomb inside (Mom was). Not to worry on that count.

The real fireworks are between these three traveling night owls as they struggle to find the words, and connections, the key to being fully human in the middle of nowhere, when you have no idea where you're going, and you don't know where you've been, you only know you're very, very far from home.

Katie Willer and Dan O'Neil have done a great job directing these two pieces so everyone in the arena set up gets a good view of the action and doesn't miss a beat in the story. Special mention has to be made of Elliott Durko Lynch's design - he's listed as being in charge of sound (amazing), lights (evocative) and magic (there's that fish again). [And if you want to see a completely different set of artistic talents from him, he's one of the dancers across town at the Red Eye in One An(d)other)

If Desolation In America wasn't your cup of tea, this offering from PNT is a great way for them to reintroduce themselves to you. Whether new or returning audience member to what they have to offer, I think you'll find yourself hooked.

Highly recommended.

Next performance - Sunday 8/6 at 7pm (after that it's Monday at 10pm, then not again til Friday and Saturday of the final weekend)

Sunday, August 6, 2006 at 12:03 PM
Filed under 5 Star Shows - Life Altering Experience