The Last Five Years

This week, on Facebook, I won tickets to a Storybook Theatre play, The Last Five Years.

The play wasn't your typical Storybook Theatre fare. Most of their plays are for kids, which is right up my alley. This play was rated as 14+. The topic was definitely not one that would interest kids. It was a story told by two actors: a man and a woman. One was an rising author, and the other was an aspiring actress who was struggling in her trade. They sang the whole story. They had an orchestra playing the entire time. The orchestra was amazing.

I found myself grappling the entire time to make connections with this story. I felt like there were some issues with the sound. The music was way louder than the singing.....I hope they figure that out for upcoming shows. At first I thought they were dating other people and would get together in time. In the middle of the story they do get married. That part made a lot of sense to me, then as the story continued on I kept struggling to figure it out. When I got home I googled the play and found out that he tells the story chronologically, and she tells it backward!  I wish I had known that at first! I would have enjoyed the story more if I had known this. I understood some of the story, but couldn't figure out why it was so disjointed. The play received a very positive review in the paper the day before. I felt like maybe I was just being a dum dum again.....like when I read some great work of literature that is hard to slog through.

When the play ended I said to my friend, "Well, I'm glad I didn't pay for that!" Now, however, I wouldn't mind seeing it again. I think I would enjoy it a lot more!