The story of Ben and Grace, a young married couple. Ben (lead) has a chronic illness called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which means he sleeps all day. The story is a struggling newly married couple, overcoming his illness, while trying to progress and find happiness in life. There is fighting, there is laughing, and there is most definitely loving.
I wish I could provide you with some pictures of the performance, but you can imagine how hard it is to try and take pictures when you're front row, 3 feet away from the actors, and not feel awkward. So, no pictures.
As I mentioned, we walking into the darkened room of the Provo Theater and i noticed that seats were full in the "normal", middle section of the audience. We chose to sit in the "abnormally" close seats on the front row where your knees hit the stage if you slouch too much, and you make uncomfortable eye contact with the cast when they accidentally look at you during a monologue.
Characters were gradually introduced. We welcomed Ben first as he slept on the foldaway couch, and secondly Grace(his wife), as she woke him up from sleeping. The writing kept your interest and the acting was mostly entertaining. The script had that dry, sarcastic, 'drama' humor, which I appreciated. Information on Ben's illness came out slowly as he joined a group on facebook and 'chatted' with another female CFS (Chronic Fatigue) sufferer who lived miles away. I thought this scene was creative, as both actor and actress sat on opposing side of the stage and talked out their typed words. Plot came as this girl (Rachel, azure_skies_80) explained how she copes with the illness and doesn't let it govern her life, WHILE Ben let it consume his.
Dream sequences were frequent in a play of Chronic tiredness. Two guys and an older lady were the entire ensemble. The best dream sequence came after Ben and Grace (antagonists, married couple) had fought and Ben left home for a week. He dreamt that Grace was being married to Billy Joel by the Pope. I love secondary action. As Ben discussed with other bystanders (foreground action) the Pope was putting Grace's and Billy Joel's hands on each others and making them play the game where you try and slap the tops of the other person's hands. It was simple but I didn't laugh harder at any other part.
The complication and crisis of the plot came as Ben received a job offer from a friend, which their little family was in desperate need of, but didn't accept because he'd grown comfortable sleeping all day. The crisis came as the guy called and Grace heard the conversation on the answering machine. The climax, however, came as Ben and Rachel planned on making a scandalous first rendezvous at a Seattle cafe. Rachel found out that Ben was married, after he vented about the situation, and told him to "go talk TO his wife, instead of only talking ABOUT his wife". They whole play was rather endearing and did well to make you sympathize with the characters.
It's too bad we didnt talk about theater before you went and saw this!
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