![]() ![]() ![]() Plus the extensive quoting from Tennyson’s Arthurian narrative poem, Idylls of the King (not identified until late in the play) doesn’t help a bit.Īlthough in the first line of the play, Zach tells us that he has a rare, unnamed disease (think Violetta in La Traviata), we don’t realize that he isn’t kidding but is staring at an imminent death sentence. While director Geordie Broadwater keeps the pace zipping along, this often makes it more of a strain to follow the convoluted plotting. And as all of the actors play two – five roles it is difficult to always know who is who. The problem with Vaynberg’s play, now being given its Off Broadway premiere, in which she plays the lead female role, is that it has so many interlocking plots that it can give you a headache trying to keep them straight. Liba Vaynberg and Craig Wesley Divino in a scene from Vaynberg’s “Round Table” at 59E59 Theaters (Photo credit: Carol Rosegg) Possibly that might all be sorted out in a movie version with sets to match but on stage this is quite a lot to keep in mind. The play, however, assumes that the audience has a good deal of knowledge about the Arthurian romances to keep all these relationships straight. In the play’s LARPing sequences which alternate between the domestic scenes, we meet Morgan (Arthur’s half-sister), Mordred (Arthur’s half-son and half–brother), Sir Tristan, the elderly Magician Merlin as well as King Arthur and his Queen Guinevere. However, Zach has another secret although he is just as reticent about his LARPing and working on Round Table. He also writes scripts for the hit show, Round Table (shades of Game of Thrones), presumably about King Arthur and his knights: a TV show or online series, we never know. Hero Zach, a medieval scholar, college professor and historical consultant, is into this as a hobby. Liba Vaynberg’s new play asks the burning question: “Do you LARP?” Lest you think it is some obscure sexual practice, it is an acronym for Live Action Role Playing.
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