Tourist Guide

Break of Noon in the Middle of the Night

To this day I still have no idea why they called the play “The Break of Noon.”  Of all the ways to summarize what happened to John, I find that the chosen title just made no sense.  But…never mind.

My friends and I came into the theatre after grabbing a snack at a nearby pizza parlor, expecting a long night.  We had heard of David Duchovny prior to this performance from “Californication,” but despite that, just the idea of staying out so late on a weekday wasn’t a very pleasant thought.  The theatre was quaint and lively, and our class got to sit in the upper deck.  I couldn’t see the stage from my seat, and so I was afraid that we wouldn’t be able to see anything when the performance started, but to my surprise the stage was much closer.

The start of the play felt like an emergency evacuation–sirens were blaring and red lights were flashing in our eyes.  It was so surreal and dramatic, and it set the tone for the rest of the story.  Unfortunately though, despite the eye-catching opening, the first scene where John talks to the audience about what just happened was quite long-winded.  Apparently, some madman came into his office and began shooting everyone, and through some miracle, John himself was the only one left alive.

The transitions between each scene was quite obnoxious in my opinion.  Couldn’t the director of the play create a more smooth transition between each scene other than flashing blinding lights right into our eyes?  The intensity of the lights felt as if someone had punched me.

The acting jobs done by David Duchovny, Amanda Peet, John Earl Jelks, and Tracee Chimo were all spectacular, but the theme of the play felt outdated.  The gist of the movie was about John and his sudden belief in God, and how society refused to believe that God saved him from such a horrible disaster.  He made references to things like Facebook during the play, but despite that, the omnipresent theme of God and “seeing the light” felt a bit strange to an atheist like myself.

There was a lot of cursing and harsh emotions exchanged throughout the story, some of which felt rather forced.  Add to that a rather out-of-place sex scene (if you can call it that), and a rather intrusive talk show host, and you get a play that has problems with cohesion.  It was hard to suspend my belief throughout the play, and that definitely took away from the experience.  The end of the play was unsatisfying, to tell the truth–I had expected something shocking to be revealed from the body language John expressed to a skeptical police officer.  I expected something sort of camaraderie between him and the murderer, but instead, the audience is given more questions to ponder.  How did he take the picture?  How did the gun simply not work?  The play ended with a scene of him supposedly levitating, and I left the theatre hungry and confused.

Despite having a brand name like David Duchovny in the play, I’d say pass on this one.