Six degrees of separation: nothing like a good play

August 30th, 2006

I haven't been to that many plays and I could probably enumerate the really good plays I've seen on the fingers of one hand. Because even though the theatre is a big thing, a lot of the stuff being played there is very mediocre. But, there are good plays from time to time. The problem is that the form of putting them on is terribly outdated. I mean that whole thing where the actor talks to the audience and "noone can hear him"? Noone is buying that. The theatre doesn't have the possibilities that movies have.

Which is precisely why taking a good play and making a movie of it can really bring out the bright points of that play. Like in the case of Six degrees of separation. I can imagine what it looks like on stage, which is why I like the movie all the more. The strongest point is that the plot is very good. Without trying to give anything away, the plot is very unclear and unexpected. It doesn't make you guess what's coming, you don't feel compelled to. And there's no way to know either.

It is a bit of a cliché on rich people living hollow lives and having all kinds of petty problems, but it has enough depth to not make that aspect be anymore than a secondary concern. The story is what drives it forward, and it is complex enough to fill 2 hours without boring you at all. The characters are 'tasteful' - vivid enough to be palpable, but subtle enough to not make you get sick of them. (This is something I get in theatres a lot - characters that are so dominating that their depth is exhausted long before the play breaks 30 minutes, and if they are annoying too, well..)

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