TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FORGIVE…?

TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FORGIVE…?
F.J. Hartland 

A plane crashes…then a team of investigators must solve the riddle: why?  How do these people cope with analytical thinking while surrounded by so much death and destruction?  How does it affect their personal lives?

            That would make an interesting play.  Unfortunately, City Theatre’s HUMAN ERROR is NOT that play.

            We are told that MOST plane crashes are the result of mechanical—not human—error.  But I know one thing….ALL play crashes are the result of human error.

            For playwright Keith Reddin, the plane crash is nothing more than a contrivance to bring three strangers together. 

            The play begins with investigators Miranda (Tasha Lawrence) and  Erik (Matt Walton) at the crash cite.  She is recovering from a failed romance.  He is a raffish cad equipped with enough sophomoric and disgusting sexual remarks to fill a high school locker room.  Does Miranda report Erik for sexual harassment?  Request to have him removed from the case?  Demand that he be fired?  No!  She goes to bed with him. And then is surprised, shocked, and even angered that their relationship doesn’t work out.  Miranda, duh?

            Along the way of this crash investigation (and doomed-for-failure relationship), the pair meet Ron (Ray Anthony Thomas), the sole survivor of the accident which killed 117 people (including Ron’s wife).  From this meeting on, the final scene of HUMAN ERROR is even more predictable than the failure of Miranda’s romance with Erik.

            Lawrence and Walton have excellent rapport as Miranda and Erik.  Their witty repartee crackles at a quick pace.  Unfortunately, both are saddled with playing characters that are too unlikeable for us to give a damn.  (And as if Erik wasn’t unlikeable enough, the playwright has given him “a secret”  So if you didn’t find him repellant enough after scene one, now he’ll REALLY make your skin crawl!)

Thomas is excellent as the sole survivor.  In each of his three scenes, Thomas portrays a man moving through the stages of the grieving process.  He is particularly heart-breaking in his first scene.  We feel the depth of his pain.  And at no time does Thomas go overboard; he plays it with beautiful restraint.

            While director Tracy Brigden has gotten interesting performances from her cast and keeps the evening moving, the play is not blocked well for the three-quarter thrust seating of the Lester Hamburg Theatre.  I sat on a side section and spent entire scenes looking at actors’ backs.  (Now I know in this type of venue, we do even up looking at backs. But in one scene, I never even saw the face of either character!)  Likewise, I am sure Luke Hegel-Cantarella’s set of sliding, lighted panels is beautiful—from the center section.

            So what is the “human error” of Reddin’s play?  Miranda’s choice to have a relationship with Erik?   Erik’s choice from his hidden past?  Don’s choice to go for a walk with his wife the day a jet falls from the sky?  Or could it be our choice to see HUMAN ERROR?

            HUMAN ERROR continues at City Theatre through May 10.  For information, visit www.citytheatrecompany.org.

This entry was posted on 4. May 2009 at 17:46 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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