What The Butler Saw at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey
Go see it. Soon, I'll launch into my critiques. But go. Whatever my objections, whether quibbles or substantial, What The Butler Saw is rarely revived, especially in the U.S. -- a shame, for such a hilarious, farcical and absurd play. (My not-very-thorough search found a 2014 Monmouth County, NJ, production, surprisingly recently, but at a college, not a regional theater.) Nothing I say should dissuade you from seeing the play, breathing, moving, and living on stage. You need to experience What The Butler Saw in person, have your brain blown open by lines of dialogue tossed as if they were thought to be pineapples not grenades -- they are grenades -- and laugh away so-called authorities' rules, those seemingly reassuringly familiar paths to peace and harmony which hide their oppressions behind bars to the same. On to my considerable caveats. Red flags about the evening ahead began before the action onstage did. At the risk of myself amplifying the very wrong I object to,