Sexual comedy as absurdity: A review of Lisa Soland’s ‘Waiting’

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The Maryville College Theatre Department performed MC adjunct and playwright Lisa Soland’s original comedic work, “Waiting” from May 2-5.

The short play examined the lives of 12 characters whose interweaving stories and experiences explored the overarching theme of whether or not they had waited for marriage to have sex.

I applaud the cast of “Waiting,” a mix of Maryville College students and community members, for their deft handling and lively performance of dialogue that could be called, on its best day, rote.

As one scene passed onto the next, to a jangling soundtrack of early 90s pop-rock, each successive pairing of actors played more and more into expected, archetypal narratives about sex – “we do everything but it,” and an extended take on a first date, “we didn’t wait,” drinking straw as phallic symbol ploy. The culmination of “Waiting,” which took place entirely in a nondescript waiting room, was an appropriately obvious metaphorical end that brought the audience full circle, a heavy-handed move we indeed needed.

Soland got laughs, but these laughs came often at the expense of integrity. Whether these “jokes” hit negatively at an off-stage gay couple (the night’s most off-putting moment by far) or an over-simplification of every college female as ditsy and hyper-sexual, they seemed more intended to pander to an audience that more wanted slapstick and shocking punch lines than to be challenged, or even asked, to think about the deeper issues that supposedly were said to reside at the heart of the work.

I do want to praise the overall technical and stage management of the production. The atmosphere created and maintained by those behind the scenes was, from the start, inviting and intriguing. The diagonal division of the Clayton Center for the Arts’ Haslam Family Flex Theatre was an interesting departure from previous performances conducted in the space. Each of the actors, as well, took their characters to a level that was consistently entertaining and maintained an atmosphere of fun, regardless of my several reservations.

Overall, sadly, “Waiting” offered very little more on a constructive level than the parade of white privilege excess and vapid, regressive sentiments of 1990s Los Angeles that it sought it to present.

If Soland was attempting absurdist theater – a careful take on the ways in which our culture projects its neuroses about sex back upon itself, in increasingly more unbelievable caricature – she succeeded overwhelmingly. If she was attempting to provide her audience with a realistic depiction of how any actual person deals with issues of sexuality, I’m afraid that I, preeminent critic of the theater that I am, was left both confused and, quite literally, waiting.

5 thoughts on “Sexual comedy as absurdity: A review of Lisa Soland’s ‘Waiting’

  • May 15, 2013 at 11:23 am
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    We at The Highland Echo strive to operate under the three tenets of the Maryville College Covenant: scholarship, respect and integrity. On our website, we hope our readers will engage in lively conversation by commenting on our articles, and we welcome articulate, thoughtful, respectful and well-informed remarks that are relevant to the articles posted. We also ask readers to keep comments constructive and refrain from personal attacks.

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  • May 15, 2013 at 7:07 pm
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    While some of the other people who have posted obviously have some strong feelings about this playwright, as an objective observer, I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with this review. After watching both “The Sniper’s Nest” and “Waiting,” I am very underwhelmed by Soland’s work. I agree that the majority of the problems are due to the script. The dialogue is unnatural and painfully forced. I also noticed the jab at the offstage gay couple and found it to be quite offensive, which leads me to my next point: Why are the only couples represented in the play comprised strictly of straight, white, middle class people? With a subject matter like sexuality, couldn’t Soland have challenged herself by including at least one couple that deviated from the “parade of white privilege excess”?

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  • May 15, 2013 at 8:48 pm
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    Jordan is so right with this. I saw Ms Solond’s play with my wife on the opening performance. As an alumnus it made my day to see such a eloquent AND RIGHTFULLY critical article in the Highland Echo. Hope to read more of his writing in the future! and I hope MC will do something about letting this woman soil the College’s name with her work……….

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