Greed, friendship, and confronting the real world are just a few of the themes throughout Patrick's "The Curious Savage." Mrs. Savage, recently widowed and having inherited her husband's $10 million estate. Committed to a mental asylum by her blood(erm, money) thirsty stepchildren, our protagonist (as sane as can be) is immersed in very 'curious' society indeed. One on side harassed by a fraudulent congressman, an incompetent judge, and a goldigger (a.k.a. her lovely children, victimized by their senile and selfish mother) and on the other by occupants of the "loony bin" (who are actually a pretty tame lot), I think that character development for Mrs. Savage herself is almost lacking. How does she feel? What are her motives? What is her story? Can I get a longer-than-a-minute monologue, anyone? The acting however - all done by people eighteen years old and younger - is pretty superb. Set is beautifully done, and while the play is almost rambling at the beginning with sorta-kinda dry dialogue, Act Two is simply wonderful. Funny, and interesting. My favorite part of this play is the idea of justice for the rotten kids, and the idea that mentally unhealthy people are just that: people. Not monsters, not scary psychopaths (though some of them are), but that they are people with hardships and hopes just like everyone else; if anything, it is our system of dealing with the mentally unhealthy that is a problem.
I didn't like the ending. I thought Ms. Savage should have stayed in the asylum, and my friend Kathleen agreed with me, but really, isn't that just romantic?
I mean, seriously. Who wants to stay in an asylum with a bunch of crazy people?
I liked it! A lot! Great job, Mr. Winkler and the entire Company, and especially leading lady Ms. Sonia Goldberg!
-Katherine
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