Prepare to be polarized.
When Annie Baker’s 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning play “The Flick” opened in New York, it was so controversial, and the critics and audiences so radically divided, it quickly became an artistic curiosity.
The play concerns three workers at a revival house movie theater, who sweep the popcorn, mop the sticky soda and talk about their lives between showings. It is marked by long silences, a nearly three-hour running time (not counting one intermission) and a glacial pace that tests the audience’s patience. Reading the play, it’s clear from the stage directions that the tempo is intentional.
Walkouts at intermission were not uncommon in New York. In fact, the artistic director of Playwrights Horizon, where “The Flick” was first produced, wrote a highly unusual letter to subscribers explaining why the theater had chosen to produce the play. Vanity Fair was moved to publish a James Wolcott story with the headline
Now Denver’s is taking on the controversial work, seemingly daring audiences to submit to the experience.
“The Flick” opens Sept. 5, running through Oct. 17, and Curious artistic director Chip Walton is ready for any pushback.
“I would rather audiences be polarized than bored,” Walton said.
He sees “The Flick” as a perfect fit for the Curious niche, summed up in the slogan “No Guts, No Story” — embodying the belief that art should be provocative.
Producing “The Flick” clearly goes against the current trend of 90-minute plays, Walton noted. And the play itself runs counter to the current culture’s emphasis on expedience, instant gratification and overstimulation.
Walton, who is directing “The Flick,” aims to capture the “zen-like power” of the play enacted in “the sweeping over and over.”
So, is that what the Pulitzer committee saw that the walkouts didn’t? The conversation about why the play won the Pulitzer for drama is less interesting to Walton. He wants to “recognize work that moves the art form forward,” he said, paraphrasing an ironically funny line from the play.
Noting the spare dialogue and lack of traditional theatrics, Wolcott wrote: “Once my attention passed a certain threshold, any grip of boredom receded and I found myself in the sort of rapt fascination that is like a holiday mood, a liberation from the heavy lifting of so much dramaturgy.”
We’ll see.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830, jostrow@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ostrowdp
“THE FLICK”
By Annie Baker, directed by Chip Walton. Featuring Christopher Hayes, John Jurcheck, Royce Roeswood and Laura Jo Trexler. At Curious Theatre, 1080 Acoma Street, Denver. Sept. 3-Oct. 17. Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun., starting Sept. 13 at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $18. Call the Box Office: 303-623-0524.
