Millions of women across America rely on Dr. Irving Baer and his daytime talk show to help them lose weight, manifest their destinies, and take their health into their own hands. Then, a take-down piece of journalism goes viral, leaving his career hanging in the balance, his marriage on the rocks, and his carefully maintained public persona in peril. In the frenzy of crisis management that follows, one thing becomes clear…if Irving Baer is going to fall from grace, he’s bringing everyone else with him. Eliza Clark‘s hilarious new comedy exposes the shaky foundations of the wellness industry, the fleeting nature of 21st-century fame, and the relationship between the powerful men who dole out advice and the women who are supposed to receive it with a smile.
QUACK
Reviews
If you want to know what's wrong with Society, Go See Quack. Playwright Eliza Elliott skewers our celebrity culture and its empty totums in Quack. CTG Associate Artistic Director Neel Keeler helmed this fast-moving production, which boasts a top-notch cast beginning with Dan Bucatensky as Dr. Irving Baer, a “Dr. Phil” like TV celebrity. Clark brings a theatrical sense to the play when Dane Laffrey's deceptively simple one-set design takes an extraordinary turn that fills in what the text cannot provide. Double Sweet!
With “Quack” it's hard to tell what Ms. Clark and Center Theatre Group were going after beyond topicality. In the end, “Quack” feels like the pop medicine its central character practices, driven by fads and the latest trend and devoid of any deeper commitment. This is one over-produced play you can catch simply by reading any week of headlines.
While i enjoyed the acting and rotating set design of the show, I really have nothing great to say about the story itself or the writing. It jumped all over the place, lots of loose ends, topics discussed and dropped, very little humor and really very boring as I found myself disliking all of the characters so I really didn't care what happened to any of them. And at almost two hours without an intermission, way too long.
Quack has a lot to say about the war between the sexes today and about our celebrity culture. There are some serious and touching moments in the play, but most of the time its issues are played for comedy of a snappy, wise-cracking nature. The big obstacle that playwright and director Neel Keller face is in making us care about these mostly unpleasant, unsympathetic characters. But such is the vitality and pizzazz of the two-hour story—and above all the cast's wonderful work—that we somehow get caught up in its flow.
Eliza Clark's new play directed by Neel Keller at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, disappoints at the top but broadens and deepens as the story develops......the production transforms into a relevant drama that examines people's responsibility for the consequences of their actions and the ongoing backlash against professional women from angry and insecure men. - RECOMMENDED
Ultimately the comedy's brilliance lies in the unsparing battle of words and character, filled with insight into the broader selfishness of the society that breeds such circumstances and such people. It's not a pretty picture and Clark makes no attempt to soften it. And yet. There is something so bemused and forgiving in both the clarity and charity of her vision that the laughter it provokes is cleansing and oddly immunizing. We leave the theatre instructed, lighthearted and uplifted.
I absolutely loved Eliza Clark's Future Thinking when it world premiered at South Coast Rep a couple years back, and Quack is every bit the winner. Expect to be thinking and talking about Dr. Irving Baer long after the spotlight Clark shines on him fades to black.
Bucatinsky and Gilsig in particular are giving impressive performances—the former creates a Dr. Baer who feels like a fully realized human being, quirks and all, and excels in the more physical comedic moments, while the latter commands every scene she is in with quiet rage and poise. But overall, it is difficult to latch onto or root for any of the characters. Ultimately, Quack is a social commentary that does not successfully comment on much in a meaningful way.
Plot twists take you by surprise then seem inevitable, with people behaving in ways that are as completely in character as they are ill-advised. The forward momentum never falters. In the beginning the show seems deceptively like a sit-com. That would be fine. But it has a lot more on its mind. Quack is that rarest of projects, a fully realized commercial stage comedy that isn't afraid to tackle moral ambiguity. This production is an unqualified success. I can easily imagine it on Broadway.
Keller keeps the dialogue bubbling, mostly thanks to the lively, quirky Bucatinsky. But Keller also keeps the action literally moving along. Near the play's end, a little mercifully, because we may have been wondering how it all gets done, and a little boastfully, because we get to see the magic between the last several scenes, the set, designed by Dane Laffrey, reveals its secret.
If you want to know what's wrong with Society, Go See Quack. Playwright Eliza Elliott skewers our celebrity culture and its empty totums in Quack. CTG Associate Artistic Director Neel Keeler helmed this fast-moving production, which boasts a top-notch cast beginning with Dan Bucatensky as Dr. Irving Baer, a “Dr. Phil” like TV celebrity. Clark brings a theatrical sense to the play when Dane Laffrey's deceptively simple one-set design takes an extraordinary turn that fills in what the text cannot provide. Double Sweet!
With “Quack” it's hard to tell what Ms. Clark and Center Theatre Group were going after beyond topicality. In the end, “Quack” feels like the pop medicine its central character practices, driven by fads and the latest trend and devoid of any deeper commitment. This is one over-produced play you can catch simply by reading any week of headlines.
While i enjoyed the acting and rotating set design of the show, I really have nothing great to say about the story itself or the writing. It jumped all over the place, lots of loose ends, topics discussed and dropped, very little humor and really very boring as I found myself disliking all of the characters so I really didn't care what happened to any of them. And at almost two hours without an intermission, way too long.
Quack has a lot to say about the war between the sexes today and about our celebrity culture. There are some serious and touching moments in the play, but most of the time its issues are played for comedy of a snappy, wise-cracking nature. The big obstacle that playwright and director Neel Keller face is in making us care about these mostly unpleasant, unsympathetic characters. But such is the vitality and pizzazz of the two-hour story—and above all the cast's wonderful work—that we somehow get caught up in its flow.
Eliza Clark's new play directed by Neel Keller at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, disappoints at the top but broadens and deepens as the story develops......the production transforms into a relevant drama that examines people's responsibility for the consequences of their actions and the ongoing backlash against professional women from angry and insecure men. - RECOMMENDED
Ultimately the comedy's brilliance lies in the unsparing battle of words and character, filled with insight into the broader selfishness of the society that breeds such circumstances and such people. It's not a pretty picture and Clark makes no attempt to soften it. And yet. There is something so bemused and forgiving in both the clarity and charity of her vision that the laughter it provokes is cleansing and oddly immunizing. We leave the theatre instructed, lighthearted and uplifted.
I absolutely loved Eliza Clark's Future Thinking when it world premiered at South Coast Rep a couple years back, and Quack is every bit the winner. Expect to be thinking and talking about Dr. Irving Baer long after the spotlight Clark shines on him fades to black.
Bucatinsky and Gilsig in particular are giving impressive performances—the former creates a Dr. Baer who feels like a fully realized human being, quirks and all, and excels in the more physical comedic moments, while the latter commands every scene she is in with quiet rage and poise. But overall, it is difficult to latch onto or root for any of the characters. Ultimately, Quack is a social commentary that does not successfully comment on much in a meaningful way.
Plot twists take you by surprise then seem inevitable, with people behaving in ways that are as completely in character as they are ill-advised. The forward momentum never falters. In the beginning the show seems deceptively like a sit-com. That would be fine. But it has a lot more on its mind. Quack is that rarest of projects, a fully realized commercial stage comedy that isn't afraid to tackle moral ambiguity. This production is an unqualified success. I can easily imagine it on Broadway.
Keller keeps the dialogue bubbling, mostly thanks to the lively, quirky Bucatinsky. But Keller also keeps the action literally moving along. Near the play's end, a little mercifully, because we may have been wondering how it all gets done, and a little boastfully, because we get to see the magic between the last several scenes, the set, designed by Dane Laffrey, reveals its secret.