BRICOLAGE SCORES WITH NEIGHBORHOOD 3

31. October 2009 by admin.

BRICOLAGE SCORES WITH NEIGHBORHOOD 3

F. J. Hartland

Pampered suburban teens become addicted to a video game and soon the line between reality and the game is erased.  What is real?  What is the game?  Who knows?

This is the premise behind Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley presented by the Bricolage Production Company.Neighborhood 3 creates the ultimate kind of fear…something horrifying in what is supposed to be a safe, quiet environment.  Most chilling is the fact that the monsters here look just like us.  Maybe we are the monsters.

Best of all, you do not need to be a “gaming” expert to understand it—and I’m proof of that!

Directed by Matt M. Morrow, Neighborhood 3 has to be one of the finest productions in Pittsburgh this year.  The pacing is swift and deliberate.

He is aided by a brilliant cast consisting of Jacqui Farkas (who plays all the daughters in this suburban enclave), Bjorn Ahlstedt (who plays all the sons), Tony Bingham (as all the fathers), and Tami Dixon (all the mothers). 

Not only does this amazingly talented ensemble has the task of playing a variety of characters, they also must delineate between when the character is really the character and when the character is an “avatar” (the matching character in the game),

While each new character has a different costume, these changes are minimal; it is up to each actor to use vocal and physical alterations to achieve the effect.  And these four performers meet the demands handily.

Ahlstedt and Farkas capture the naiveté of some the teen-agers and the belligerence of others.  Dixon and Bingham paints parents who are confused, angry, frustrated and sometimes compassionate.

Haley has also peppered her script with a great deal of humor.  Both Dixon and Bingham score big laughs when playing uptight parents.

There is a fifth character who is heard but never seen.  Randy Kovitz provides the voice of the “Walkthrough”—the disembodied narrator who walks the players of Neighborhood 3 through the game.

The set by Stephanie Mayer-Staley is a textbook example of what a set should do.  Not only does it create the feel of a suburban cul-de-sac with its cookie-cutter houses, but this set also manages to capture the essence of the video game.  We see the parallel worlds, the wormholes, the mirror images.  Its stark palate also makes a powerful statement about the world of Neighborhood 3.

Lighting by Niki Ellis is effective, but I did notice some dark spots during early scenes which left actors faces difficult to see.

And let’s not forget the new seating at Bricolage—which is much more comfortable and can accommodate the widest of behinds (i.e. mine!)

With superb direction, powerful performances and a stunning set, you do not want miss to Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom!

Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom runs through November 28.  Learn more at wwwwebbricolage.org.

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