Oh, The Humanity & Other Good Intentions

Synopsis

5 short plays about perfectly imperfect people. We'd like you to meet a bunch of people with something on their mind. There's a coach with an awkward confession to make and a spokeswoman who doesn't know what to say. This man and that woman want to fall in love, but they're not quite sure how. That couple over there don't know whether they're going to a christening or a funeral. Oh, and these two people just want to take your picture, so just act natural, ok? Witty, charming and playful, Oh the Humanity exposes the terrible hope and hilarious uncertainty of our lives, from one of New York's hottest young writers.

Our Review:

Alison Carr - 14 September 2011

Will Eno’s Oh, The Humanity and Other Good Intentions is the centre piece of Northern Stage’s current ‘Festival of Humanity’, a fortnight of events described by the theatre as ‘the most interesting conversations you’ll ever be part of’.

Made up of five short plays, this is stripped back drama that is all about rich dialogue and big ideas.

Simply but slickly staged, director Erica Whyman allows nothing to clutter the telling of these short vignettes, and thus nothing to get in the way of their impact. They are unusual, certainly, particularly the closing piece Oh The Humanity, but also funny and tragic and truthful.

John Kirk, Tony Bell and Lucy Ellinson impress in all of the pieces; Ellinson in particular (who appears in four of the five) seems to morph into completely different people during the brief set changes.

How it works as a whole I left not entirely convinced, but as five shorts they are entertaining and th...

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