by Samantha Chase
From the Suffolk PAO’s website: What happens to pop culture after the fall of human civilization? What about 7 years after the fall? Or even 75 years? In the near post-apocalypse future, a group of survivors find community in the ruins. And a way forward, in the footsteps of Bart Simpson!
This Thursday night the Suffolk Performing Arts Office debuted their performance of Mr. Burns: a Post-Electric Play as part of their Pioneer Performance Series. Directed and produced by Suffolk PAO staff and performed by Suffolk students, this was certainly an innovative and unique performance. The play explores a post-apocalyptic reality, as a group of eight people begin to explore what it means to live in the wake of an environmental and cultural disaster. What will we lose? What stays with us? How does the power of storytelling transform our experiences?
As is apparent from the first scene of the production, it seems that in this post-reality The Simpsons is what people remember. The remainder of the play becomes centered around one specific episode of The Simpsons, in which Homer Simpson receives a death threat from the villainous Sideshow Bob. The cast continues to reference and quote from the same few scenes, which means that even audience members who have never seen an episode before will be able to follow along – although the narrative makes more sense if you have background knowledge of the show and its characters.
Reading the program, in this case, is also an absolute must, because the director’s note provides very important information to the structure of the play. The first act takes place “in the very near future,” and is the most compelling portion of the production; in this act, especially, audiences can recognize key references to daily life as they know it. The juxtaposition between the performers’ humorous investment in an episode of The Simpsons, and the very real loss they all feel after experiencing such a terrible event, is the only compelling part of the play. The plot jumps back and forth between long-winded stories of “before” and short bursts of Simpsons imitations, which creates a narrative which is at once tedious and confusing.
The second act moves forward seven years, when the same survivors have taken what they remember from life before the nuclear meltdown and attempt to reproduce it. Once again, audience members will find themselves confused as to what the purpose of this exploration is; only the mental breakdown one character experiences, as he contemplates the danger and sorrow he lives with every day as a survivor, injects some semblance of meaning into what feels like an unstructured mess of references to the past. This act ends on a startling and seemingly unnecessary note which will leave the audience asking, why?
From there, the play only spirals into increasingly confusing imagery. The third act, especially, just seems like an amalgamation of references to The Simpsons and other moments from pop-culture past. It becomes impossible for the audience to connect with either the plotline or the characters themselves anymore. Even the actors’ impressive, dramatic renditions of each line cannot save what, ultimately, seems meaningless.
Because the script itself is so all over the place, the actors’ performances and the production itself was both more visible and more impressive. The individual moments when the actors were able to show the sense of fear they felt living in such a depressed state were the most powerful of the entire play. The sets were not overly elaborate, but the run-down aesthetic of both the costumes and the set pieces really put the audience in the world these characters were experiencing. The costumes of the second and third acts were overt references to The Simpsons, which made for an interesting combination: vibrant cartoons coupled with oppressive fear. The world of Mr. Burns certainly would not have been as immersive – or, for non-Simpsons fans, as understandable – without the work of the Suffolk PAO’s impressive production team.
Mr. Burns will be performed twice more, and this is definitely an experience you won’t soon forget. Reserve your free tickets now to support Suffolk’s performing arts!
Upcoming performances: February 20-22 at 7:30pm; doors open at 7:00pm
Price: Free
Location: Modern Theatre