Barrington Stage, Pittsfield, MA
through July 29, 2017
by Shera Cohen
 |
| Photo by Justin Allen |
The setting is Salem, Oregon. The young lead characters are
misfits who are situated at the core of a larger society of deceptive, immoral,
and secretive adults. It doesn’t seem to be too much of a stretch to make many
comparisons of “Speech and Debate” to Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” The key
elements are here, whether sited in Massachusetts or across the country in
Oregon. Our teenage trio is small in number, up against the corruption of their
town and their high school.
Actors Austin Davidson, Ben Getz, and Betsy Hogg each play
“weird” exceedingly well, especially Hogg. It is probably safe to assume that
the actors are adults in real life. In body and voice, they skillfully portray
teens.
“Speech and Debate” is a strange piece of theatre, with
music and dance. It is, however, not a musical. Preceding each scene are large
video projections of cell phone texts, signs, and haphazard words. In other
words, “Speech” is a decidedly contemporary play.
The setting is a single classroom, with a modicum of side
sets to establish locations. While Director Jessica Holt succeeds in her
casting decisions, she might have made some other choices regarding movement of
characters; i.e. the two male teens have a lengthy text conversation from one
end of the stage to the other as the audience watches what appears to be a
tennis match. Another directing distraction appears at the play’s beginning, as
a teacher aimlessly meanders across the classroom.
At ninety-minutes, the play seems long, especially for the
many senior citizens at a matinee performance. It is also loud, full of
computer jargon, teenage vocabulary, with many flashes of lights. However, the
seemingly unending dance piece at the climax of the play is a marvelous
semi-free for all set to music. Not to label stereotypes, but those audience
members under age 30, seem to enjoy and “get” the characters and their story.
“Speech and Debate” is part high school angst. More importantly, the play
cloaks very serious subjects in humor.
