Kicking a Dead Horse
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Cititour.com Review
In his Beckett-inspired new play, Kicking a Dead Horse, playwright Sam Shepard (who also directed) examines the remnants of a capsized civilization. It’s the existential question of individual responsibility, man’s inhumanity to man, and whether or not an art dealer with marital problems would spend time in purgatory kicking a dead horse.
The last part is, of course, a supposition. Shepard merely sets up his scenario with Stephen Rea as Hobart Struther, the art dealer stranded in the badlands because his horse appears to have had a heart attack. And while Rea rants about his situation and his life, he takes out his frustrations by kicking the dead animal, thereby offering up a visual interpretation of the expression for an exercise in futility.
What we are to glean from the experience is anybody’s guess. Shepard uses the iconic American cowboy as a symbol of what’s decent and then stands by to let us watch it disintegrate. He sprinkles political comments judiciously and has Hobart going through a ritualistic cleanse, throwing all his worldly possessions into a huge hole that he’s dug — supposedly to bury the horse. At one point a barely clad woman rises from the hole and replaces Hobart’s cowboy hat, only to have him throw it away again. Was there a different choice he could have made? Or are his actions beyond is control? Are we all pawns in the universe or just under the current administration?
Stephen Rea’s performance is filled with sweaty rage, and seemingly mindless rambling. He captures the confusion of Hobart with precision. Brian Vahey’s dusty set emits real desert heat. But for all his imagery and cleverness, Shepard’s directing skills are hindered by his own work as the playwright. It’s a heavy piece and the pacing provided here doesn’t help lift the words off the page. But then again, the play itself is bogged down by its lack of humor.
If Shepard has a message to deliver in "Kicking a Dead Horse" it doesn’t seem to be delivered with clarity. But then existentialism is always an open-ended question, isn't it?
By Lesley Alexander
Visit the Site
http://www.publictheater.org/component/option,com_shows/task,view/Itemid,158/id,917
Cast
Elissa Piszel, Stephen Rea
Open/Close Dates
Opening 6/25/2008
Closing 8/10/2008
Box Office
212-967-7555
Theatre Info
Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10003
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