Balancing act

“How’s it going, Shithead?” This line was, in my humble opinion, the best acting moment I experienced in the theater all year. It was delivered by Natalie Wass in Ben San Del and phillip andrew bennet low’s 2010 Minnesota Fringe Festival show, A Nice Guy’s Guide to Awkward Sex. All throughout the year, but particularly during the Fringe Festival, people say things like, “I saw the worst show ever!” Or if they are in their twenties they might say, “I saw the worst show evaaaaaaar.” Either way, my response is always the same: Do you mean it was done really poorly or do you mean it was slow, meandering, or indulgent? I once saw a truly hideous version of Romeo & Juliet. Like when they saw this, people should have turned to stone like they were looking at a Gorgon. But it was engaging in its up-tempo horribleness. Around the same time, I also saw a solid, professional production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that was technically well done but slow and predictable. I almost fell asleep during Midsummer. I have been recounting specific details from Romeo & Juliet for years. They are like flashes of a crime scene I need to recount to process the PTSD. But it wasn’t boring. Soon, I will inevitably be roped into a pedantic conversation with a geek friend about the physics featured in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. These will be well-reasoned arguments about force, speed, velocity, etc. My response will be: WHEN HE HITS PEOPLE THEY TURN INTO COINS. That is to say, accurate physics is not the film’s goal. I think most savvy art or entertainment cues its audience what to expect. And I get annoyed when people overlay their own personal wants and expectations on theater rather than simply looking for the show to be the best version of itself it could be. I like comedy. I don’t think Death of A Salesman is a bad play because they’re not really hitting the laugh lines the way they should. I also like burritos. I don’t get mad when I go to Jimmy John’s, and they don’t have them. A Nice Guy’s Guide to Awkward Sex at this year's Fringe was not boring. It also wasn’t a hyper, spazz-fest. It was deliberately paced to balance the comedy and the emotional reality of the characters. Also, the physics were all accurate. Because they have to be in live theater. Which is very sad. The show’s goal, at least in my interpretation, was to be a big funny comedy based on small moments of sad reality. A balancing act that is close to my heart but that I believe a lot of creators and audiences have a hard time managing and accepting. Any narrative, character-based comedy will be flat and lifeless if the characters don’t have genuine human emotions. But if you take the pathos too far it’s not comedy anymore. It’s pompous, tragic clown, Patch Adams crap. The script was carefully balanced, and I enjoyed the entire cast but what made me think of it as a "best" piece of theater was Natalie Wass’ performance. Many actors work at comedy from the perspective that it is no different than drama: play the character honestly and the funny will come out. I think this is often true, but comedy also demands a technical understanding of rhythm, timing, playing the scene with your actual scene partner at the same time as listening to the audience and treating them as a scene partner. “How’s it going, Shithead?” was a response from Natalie’s character at the beginning of an awkward date. Her character had been chided for not swearing enough. On the page it’s a funny joke that actors would line up around the block to totally ruin. Natalie’s delivery captured both the character’s honest desire to make the date work and the deeper human sad truth that we instantly turn ourselves into chameleons to please strangers on awkward dates. It’s either that or spend another lonely night listening to your geek friend ramble about physics. And it was funny. The line was not leaned on or delivered with a knowing wink to the audience. It was delivered with a deft understanding of where the comic juxtaposition lies: the sudden crudeness of an out of the blue “shithead” vs. the fact that Natalie and her character are ridiculously cute. As one audience review said, “Everyone should have a pocket-sized doll of Natalie Wass.” Bottom line, from a technical comic perspective, it was exceptionally well-executed. “How’s it going, Shithead?” and Natalie’s entire performance was not a gymnastic achievement in jumping back and forth between comedy and emotional reality. Instead, it was communicating exactly what the show wanted to: it was both at the same time. Natalie’s performance was funny and sad because it was true. And it wasn’t boring, either. Therefore, it must be BEST.