Snug Slug Activities

By Bess Wohl.

Another month, another trip to the theatre!

“In the overwhelming quiet of the woods, six runaways from city life embark on a silent retreat. As these strangers confront internal demons both profound and absurd, their vows of silence collide with the achingly human need to connect.”

This show was fun and interesting to watch. There were several long segments where none of the actors were speaking, using exclusively non-verbal communication and miming. Most of the talking was done by a seventh actor, who never appeared onstage, acting as the retreat leader.

It was really cool to see how the actors told the story, giving background on each of their characters and drawing you into their world with almost no words.

While the experience overall was enjoyable, the story itself was a little unsatisfying.

My mother turned to me after the show and said, “So, what was the point?”

Which I thought was an excellent point.

Every story should have a point. Every book or poem that you read, every movie or TV show that you watch, and every story that you tell your coworker–all of these stories are being told for a reason. They are all teaching you something about the world and the people in it. If there is no point, then it is not a story; it is a narrative. Just a sequence of events.

This play felt like there was supposed to be a point, but it was a little vague. The verbally stated point from the retreat leader is that “You are not alone.” But the rest of the play did not seem to focus on that point. There were a few ideas that we came up with for what “the point” might have been, but none of them were particularly strong.

It was still a great show, and still well worth watching just from a technical standpoint.

Another fun night at the Sauk Theatre!