Run Don’t Run… No, the title of this play isn’t the only thing that is confusing and bizarre in this play.
Run, Don’t Run is definitely one of the most “unique” plays plays that I have ever seen. While Run, Don’t Run reassured me of the remarkable creative and innovative abilities of some people as I have never seen anything like it… I think there was certainly a reason why I have never seen anything like it before.
The play appears to be an attempt to visually display the art in the music as movement in the dancers bodies. A transfer of the medium of the work if you will, while still having both presented simultaneously. This is where many will begin to become lost. Unfortunately the play is incredibly inaccessible to beginners exploring the world of art. For many beginners, myself included, there is no discernable story as one would expect in a play. It seems like an hour long interpretive dance that lacks consistency, flow, and an overarching theme.
I was even more incredibly disappointed when I found out that this play funded partly by a state grant. When public dollars are being given out during an incredibly tight budget and when many people are out of work and upstate New York needs a serious influx of funds to jumpstart it back to life, I was horrified to learn that this money instead was used for this play. I have absolutely nothing against state grants for the arts, however I strongly feel that when a grant is given, it should be for a project that truly makes a significant and very real contribution to the culture of New York that can be enjoyed and appreciated by everyone. While the playwright may have intended this play for a different, more seasoned audience, one of the great things about a play is that it should be something that anybody should be able to appreciate and enjoy. Especially when one’s tax dollars are going towards it.
Nobody should be turning away from a world of art and creativity after seeing a play. Unfortunately, I didn’t just find myself being turned away, I was running away.
