Review of “The Recommendation”

The writer, Jonathan Caren, conveys an important life lesson while reaching out to all age levels by combining straightforward language and comedy in “The Recommendation”. The cast, Barron B. Bass, James Fouhey, and Austin Trow, is quite talented for they each perform more than one role in the play. Directed by Kel Haney, “The Recommendation” presented at the Flea Theater on Monday, September 30 teaches a lesson of friendship and overcoming life obstacles as two young characters enter adulthood.

“The Recommendation” starts out with the main character, Iskinder Iudoku, also known as Izzy, entering a new life as a college student with a strict immigrant father from Ethiopia. At Brown University, Izzy meets his future best friend, Aaron Feldman. Aaron Feldman is described as the perfect jock that gets everything and anything he wants because he comes from a wealthy Caucasian family. In college, Aaron invites Izzy into a world with things he’s never had before: wealth and popularity. Izzy had to work his way up the ladder to get into Brown because nothing ever came easy for him, so Aaron became his gateway to the world of money. Aaron’s generosity towards Izzy continues throughout the entire play; for example, he tells his father to put in a good word to help Izzy get into UCLA’s law school. As money becomes a key factor in the play, Aaron and Izzy’s lives start changing for both the better and the worst. Still living on the idea that his father’s wealth can get him anywhere, Aaron finds himself in jail for a broken taillight. After realizing his parents aren’t going to come to the rescue and bail him out, Aaron becomes so desperate in jail that he starts asking for help from Dwight Barnes. As Izzy is working at a fancy firm, Aaron is making a deal with Dwight; he promised to get his father to help with his case if Dwight protected him in jail. Aaron also foolishly tells Dwight of a crime he committed when he was 15 years old. Aaron’s laidback attitude throughout the play negatively impacted his life because he relied too much on his parents and too little on himself.

Jonathan Caren leads us to the climax of the play by putting Aaron and Izzy’s friendship on jeopardy. When Aaron finally gets out of jail, he has trouble escaping his past because Izzy decides to take on Dwight’s case to help him get out of jail. Aaron is scared of Dwight because he never kept his promise and confided in him about his crime. Even though Aaron begs Izzy not to take on the case, Izzy goes behind his back and not only takes Dwight’s case, but gets him out of jail. By taking on this case, Izzy, for once, is doing something for his own benefit without Aaron’s involvement. Dwight not only represents a friendship barrier between Izzy and Aaron, but also the only thing in the play that Aaron couldn’t use his money to run away from. When Aaron confronts Dwight in the real world, he shows his true colors by belittling Dwight because he is a convict with no social class. Izzy steps in as Aaron and Dwight are arguing in a sauna room and confronts Aaron himself. The director, Kel Haney, incorporates an action scene into the play as Izzy and Aaron battle each other to forgiveness. The friendship between the two characters was true, but Aaron’s wealth and power always made Izzy feel inferior to him. I believe Izzy took on Dwight’s case to prove that he doesn’t follow all of Aaron’s orders and has a mind of his own.

I enjoyed “The Recommendation” not only for its comic relief, but I could easily relate to certain scenes and its theme of friendship. Even though this play is technically for any age group, I think young adults can relate best to it. The play starts with two 18-year-old boys and slowly shows them maturing as they enter their 20’s. Many of the comedy scenes involved sexual jokes or the actors singing funny songs. The audience consisted mostly of people anywhere from 25 to 30-years-old. I was relieved that the audience was relatively young because I thought it would indicate that the play was meant for a younger people, which turned out to be somewhat true. I noticed everyone laughed occasionally and seemed very attentive throughout the entire play. I didn’t expect the play to be interesting because the building didn’t look too professional. The space was relatively small and in a basement; also, there were only about 60 chairs set up for the audience. “The Recommendation”, however, fit perfectly into the small space with only four props because the acting was so vivid that it didn’t need an abundance of decoration. The main props used were blinds, two chairs, and a table. The two chairs and table represented different things throughout the play. They were used to represent Aaron and Izzy laying on their dorm beds, riding in the backseat of a car, sitting by a pool, eating at a restaurant, sitting in a sauna room, etc. The lack of props showed the theater was working with a low budget, but didn’t take away from the overall meaning of the play.

The lighting designer, Nick Solyom, and the sound designer, Elisheba Ittoop, did exceptionally well in fitting with the mood of every scene. The lighting portrayed changes in scenes and when necessary, focused on specific people on stage to highlight what they said. When the narrator spoke to the audience, the lighting was positioned in front of the stage to focus in on him; when Izzy’s father spoke, the spotlight would shift to the back of the stage to turn the audience’s attention to him. I also liked the use of the fog to create suspense as Aaron sat in the jail cell nervously waiting for his parents who were never going to arrive. The background music also enhanced the scenes because it fit well into the mood of whatever was happening. The music was suitable for the type of audience because it consisted of mainstream hip-hop songs that everyone seemed to be at least familiar with.

Overall, “The Recommendation” was an enjoyable, but a bit unrealistic play of two young men from complete different worlds overcoming life obstacles together and finding true friendship in each other. The combination of a well-written story, trendy music, remarkable acting, and good lighting made this play truly unforgettable.