Bash: three plays

This is an incredible play. I think that the Mormon culture is fascinating--actually, I think that any sub-culture that is quirky and not accessible to everyone is fascinating. I live in Utah, and I've noticed that there isn't much media out there that develops the quirky Mormon culture. Most of the stuff available is either "faith promoting," or "bashing," and neither of those extremes really gets into any of the interesting parts of the culture.Enter Neil Labute--he sets some very interesting stories in the quirky Mormon culture. They aren't faith promoting--they aren't negative toward Mormons...they're just stories set in a quirky Mormon culture.This isn't a "slice of Mormon life." It is, as I've heard people say, "Good people who happen to do bad things," even though that grossly oversimplifies these stories. The stories are fantastic, and they have the typical Labute macabre.I suspected that Labute could do Mormons well after the interesting discussion of pornography that he included in "The Shape of Things." But, I was pleasantly surprised by how well he wrote Mormons in a book dedicated to them.Technical stuff--The book is tiny: 96 pages, and small. Two of the three plays are monologues, and the other is a two-person play. It doesn't have your typical play notes, like "[The lights dim....a bottle breaks in the background]." These "plays" are 100% dialogue.I knew it would be good, but after reading this book, I'm going to buy all of Labute's plays that are available on amazon.

Never had a play truly made my stomach turn, but in the first act, in the first small play, it did just that, and pretty much continued at that rate and speed throughout. This interesting understanding of suffering and sacrifice for corporate America, for idealism, for religion, it's the plays that nearly got it's writer, excommunicated from the church. I don't see why, but I do see a great playwright, whose plays are not getting the attention they truly deserve.

An excellent play. Neil Labute's dialogue is so naturalistic and conversational juxtaposed against such dark subject matter!

I directed The Shape of Things which, in my opinion, is his only good play. Bash is just another sorry (and boring) attempt at LaBute to be shocking and show how cruel humans can be to each other (without being entertaining). Do I really need a whole play to explain that to me?Read a real playwright like Martin McDonagh and don't waste your time on LaBute's garbage.

Author captures the depth of feelings well...

Medea in Redux is one of my favorite one women shows, I used it for my senior thesis, great set of plays from Mr. LaBute!

great shape

Bash is three short pieces, two monologues separated by a two hander. All three are surprising in their evolution, as each involves a gradual revelation from the characters in confidence with their "audience." The first piece, Iphigenia in Orem, is about a business man who confides in a stranger a terrible secret. This piece left me shocked and mining the logic of action and the susceptability one has to suggestion. The second piece, A Gaggle of Saints is a disturbing tale of a weekend trip to Manhatten by several Bostonians for a party, which culminates in a vile violent "night cap." The third, Medea Redux is a heart breaking story of young woman's spun world, as she speaks into a recorder inside a mental institution/asylum.Each piece evokes the violence and sacrifice and desparation of Euripedes plays in a modern sense. The shock and unbelievability of these peoples actions are not lost on them, as they struggle with reason or in A Gaggles of Saints case, bask in it.

The trio of plays that make up Bash are sharply written and create a true sense of unease as the stories unravel before our eyes. I thoroughly recommend this work for anyone looking for challenging work to perform within the theatre.