Brooklyn College’s Theater Department hosted a riveting production of Reckless performed by its student actors. Reckless is an intense play about a protagonist named Rachel, who is one day told by her husband that he has paid a hitman to take her life. She has no choice but to abandon her children and climb out through a window into the snowy winter and start a new life. Rachel finds shelter in the home of a man named Lloyd Bophtelophti, who changed his name to avoid alimony payment and now lives with his wife Pootie. Pootie is a paraplegic who pretends to be deaf as well to get double disability. Rachel soon finds out that Pootie is pretending to have double disability to earn the attention and love of Lloyd. Later on, Rachel finds a job and gets onto a game show where she wins $100,000 and spends this on several escapades, like therapists and Christmas gifts. Later, Rachel has a reunion with her husband who came to ask for her forgiveness and brings in a bottle of champagne he found on their doorstep. They all prepare to drink as Rachel drops and spills her glass. While Lloyd goes to replace her glass, Pootie and Rachel’s husband drink the champagne and die in front of Lloyd’s and Rachel’s eyes. They’ve been poisoned. Lloyd and Rachel grieve their losses and Lloyd falls into a fit of alcoholism and self-starvation. In the end, the play reveals Rachel in the future as a therapist treating her own child. He fails to recognize her, but as Rachel listens to his life story and problems more and more, she realizes he is her son whom she was forced to abandoned. The play ends with Rachel contemplating whether the world is some machination against her or if she is even sane.

The performance and set design of the play were spectacular. Actors performed on and off the stage with live T.V. broadcasting and tense events. Rachel managed to pull everybody’s heartstrings with her emotion while Lloyd’s alcoholic fit of self-destruction had the crowd worried and appalled. The actors playing the central characters controlled the audience’s attention and I was impressed to see that these two actors learned sign language to use when talking to deaf Pootie. The side actors who played T.V. reporters and game show hosts were hilarious with their cynical and dark humor as they seemed to indirectly mock Rachel and her companions with their witty jokes. This acting was coupled with eye-catching set design for a very absorbing show. The set of the play was covered in art and interesting design that kept surprising the public with its versatility. The walls of the room where the play was usually occurring were covered in modern artwork featuring a head painted in a simplistic fashion and interesting patterns. The walls were also divided into 4 portions which backstage members would rotate to reveal a clock and moodier design. The only thing I found strange about this production was that some actors had seemingly useless roles like holding up christmas lights. However, I was still captivated for the whole 2 hours as I was taken on an emotional rollercoaster.

Although the storyline of the play may be a bit confusing, I found it not too hard to follow even though the set switches were fairly fast. After the play I had to take a moment to recap all the crazy events of the performance, but I was happy with the experience. I am looking forward to viewing another show by the Brooklyn College Theater.