Tourist Guide

Break of Noon!

When I first heard that we were going to watch “The Break of Noon,” an off-broadway play, I was excited. I have never watched an off-Broadway play and in my mind, I imagined a glamorous theater. To my surprise, the Lucile Theater was unlike anything I imagined. It was just a typical small and old theater with no fancy decorations. Despite the smallness of the theater, my hype for play did not go away. I was excited to see David Duchovny, who starred in X-Files and Californication, and Amanda Peet.

The play began with a bleeding David Duchovny giving a monologue on the office shooting that had killed 37 people. As John, the character Duchovny was playing, tries to recreate what happened from his memories, he began to ramble. I felt that the monologue was too long and failed to capture the audience’s attention. The darkness of the theater and rambling of John made it hard to keep awake. When the monologue ended, the bright lights and sudden change to the second scene woke me up.

The storyline of the play was simple: a man who changed himself after experiencing a life and death situation. Although the general plot of the play was not very interesting, the actors were the ones that made the play worth watching. David Duchovny, Amanda Peet, John Earl Jelks, and Tracee Chimo were all exceptional actors and actresses. I was more impressed with the two actresses than the two actors. Amanda Peet, who played the dual roles of Ginger and Jesse, depicted the characters perfectly.  Ginger was rational, while Jesse seemed to be the type of girl that always had mood swings. Despite the differences in the two characters, Amanda Peet was able to easily submerge into the role and do a great job in her performance. Next was Tracee Chimo, who played the role of Gigi. She was a hooker in the play, trying to seduce John, however, after the constant denial of John for her services, she reverted to her real self. She burst into tears as she talked to John about her mother. The sudden change in attitude surprised me and I found her acting very convincing.

Although I felt that this play was the highlight of my IDC class so far, I still have several criticisms for it. Like many of my classmates, I felt in some scenes, the acting was forced. There were times when I felt that the lines Duchovny said did not fit in with the play. I also did not like the ending. I was expecting the ending to be a surprise, shocking everyone that Duchovny was part of the massacre. Instead, the opposite happened. Duchovny was saved by God and in the last scene, he was lifted up from the floors. I felt that this ending was lacking and could’ve been better. What I really liked about this last scene though was how the director coordinated Duchovny to wear white, and by shining the light on him, the audience’s attention would be directed to the top portion of his body. This allows the director to give the audience the allusion that Duchovny is floating up in the air. Overall, this was an enjoyable experience and I hope to see more off-Broadway or Broadway plays in the future.