Satellites

This was a pretty buzzed about show, what with Sandra Oh and all. Unfortunately, it was also a very annoying, frustrating, not particularly entertaining or enlightening show. And I like Sandra Oh. And Asians on stage in general.

This show was about race and discrimination. It didn't subtly make any surprising or enlightening statements about race, it just kind of shoved things that weren't really surprises in your face. And it was annoying. Just like every single character in the play. So here's the deal. An interracial upper middle class couple have a child. The mother (Sandra Oh) is Korean, the father is black. The black father is from an adopted family, and thus has a ne'er-do-well white brother. The Korean mother also didn't really know her parents. They want to raise their child so she knows her background, so they pick a mostly black neighborhood in Brooklyn and hire a grandmotherly Korean nanny. As the play ensues, we see the black father having prejudices against other blacks, and the Korean mother against another Korean. It becomes a class and age discrimination. And the villain, or the most villainous or the most looked down upon, is the white male. I've had some great discussions on the power play based on gender, class, and race, but this show just didn't play it right.

However, as I said before, the show just kind of shoves it in your face, and not in a way that makes you think or enjoy it, moreso in a way that just kind of annoys you. Every character is annoying and unreasonable. They seem to be smart characters but just seem so clueless that's it's unbelievable. Each one is basically trying to throw themselves the biggest pity party ever, and instead of pitying any of them, I really just wanted to throw rocks at them. It was that annoying.

I think the cast did a fine job for the wholly unlikable characters they had to work with. I think the sets were pretty darn spiffy, and they flowed well - kind of like cameras panning through rooms in a house. The show, however, just didn't seem to bring me anywhere or tell me anything or make me leave the theater feeling fulfilled or satisfied in anyway whatsoever. I think the show was trying to say something, or make some sort of statement, I just think there was a better way to present it and a better one to make.