Wednesday, August 20, 2008

There Will Come Soft Rains

BOTTOM LINE: inventive, daring, experimental
If you're into seeing incredibly cool stuff on stage, you should probably check this show out. There Will Come Soft Rains is a wildly inventive staging of three sci-fi tales "How the World Was Saved," "On the Nature of Time," and "There Will Come Soft Rains."

Undoubtedly, the draw of this "science fiction symphony" is, ironically, its visual brilliance. The company employs puppets, an extraordinary use of projected image, and three white panels on a bare stage to create the distinct worlds of each story, and it's a pleasure to watch the immense amount of creativity and talent that this show highlights.

While Soft Rains is brilliantly conceived and well directed (by Jon Levin, who also adapted each story for the stage), my one comment is this - that the creativity of the staging may sometimes overshadow the stories themselves. While each story is, in itself, surprising and poignant, the sheer coolness of seeing how it's brought to life, sometimes makes you forget what's actually being said. But if you're a person who loves daring and ingenuity on stage, you'll do well with Soft Rains.

There Will Come Soft Rains plays at the New School for Drama theatre. Show times: Thursday, August 21st at 5:15pm. Saturday, August 23rd at 7:30pm. For more info visit
softrains-theplay.com or fringenyc.org.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

there will come soft rains was probably the most technically sophisticated show I've seen in the fringe. when they get in the barrow street theater for the encore series the show should be even more polished