Hollywood Fringe Festival Theatre Review: 25 Plays Per Hour

Synopsis: A crew of actors put on twenty-five plays in fifty minutes.

Initial Reaction: Whiplash.

Review: Theater Unleashed – a Los Angeles-based theater company – has come up with a show that seems uniquely suited to the present day attention span. Webisodes and YouTube videos promise to keep us no more than 5 minutes so that we can move on to the next one. I myself find it difficult to sit through an entire movie on Netflix Streaming without conducting a few IMDb searches and Facebook checks. TU has put together twenty-five two-minute plays in one production comprised of various gags, vignettes, and monologues. This ought to keep us interested, right?

The opening piece is amusingly meta, in which the two main characters are stressing out over the idea of having to write a play in a couple of minutes. The first character asks, “How are we supposed to show an instant bond between two characters?” Her writing partner gently wipes a stray crumb off the first character’s cheek, all the while indicating she has no idea. They complain about how unrealistic it is to write a play in two minutes, just before wondering “What impossible task can we give our main characters?” It’s a cute introduction, especially appreciated because it would not have the same impact in any other context.  Another piece draws surprising parallels between going to your first war and starring in your first gay porn. Yet another reveals a former bully’s regret for driving a classmate to suicide. And another finds a married couple bickering about the love/hate chore of sex. The conversation adopts a “boys locker room” quality as the two argue over who is the more discreet masturbater. The fact that some of these plays aren’t very good seems almost beside the point. They’re so short that, as long as you’ve been entertained, they’ve done their job.

Mostly, however, they are pretty good, some even great. The format seems better suited for quick gags that couldn’t normally sustain the length of a full play, and 25 Plays finds plenty of amusing setups. The dramatic pieces, on the whole, were less successful, as these were less experimental, prone to cliché and sentimentality, and overstuffed considering the format. The standout from the entire production, however, was “White Satin, Clean Lines,” a dramatic piece about the sad cost of fitting into the perfect wedding dress. The monologue turns from amusing to tragic, bold to subtle so quickly, so naturally, that it really feels like a complete piece. The entire Theatre Unleashed cast is largely up to the task of creating various characters and different set ups. Tracey Collins deserves singling out, however, for delivering the most laughs.

Best Line: "Have you ever had sex with a fat guy in a car?!"

Bottom Line: It’s no surprise that a collection of twenty-five plays contains varied tones, subject matter, and levels of quality. The shorts are more hit than miss, and while the production may be light as a feather, it’s undeniably a lot of fun.

You can catch 25 Plays Per Hour at the Theatre Asylum today (2:30 PM), and also on June 20th (8:30 PM), 22nd (11:30 PM), and 23rd (2:30 PM).  Find tickets here.

Dan Johnson is a freelance writer in Los Angeles helping cover the 2012 Hollywood Fringe Festival for Cinesnatch.