The “Hate Mail” Comedy: A Performance Review Essay

Introduction

At some point in life, people have felt the urge to conceal their unpleasant experiences through writing, especially when faced with confrontation where some thoughts seem hurtful to say hence preferring restraint. However, through emails, one finds it easy to revenge by drafting a sarcastic remark or a sugarcoated insult directed at the physically absent enemy. As such, the comedy written by Kira Obolensky and Bill Corbett featuring Natalia Howe and Ben Bryant with Jared Culpepper as the director introduces a bitter-sweet relationship on stage (Macchietto). Preston is overcome by anger and writes a letter for a refund after purchasing a snow globe that is broken from a store. As a result, Dahlia who is the Assistant Manager responds by refusing the customer’s demands hence he is fired and this leads to an acrimonious correlation between the two (Macchietto). Looking at the concert, you are bound to agree that this is the most inventive and funniest act to grace theatres as you will be hooked on the hilarious comedy. This paper reflects on the love-hate relationship in the comedy as envisaged in the correspondence between a customer and an employee.

The Review of Hate Mail Comedy

The main concept behind the comedy is epic as Preston writes “there will be a refund” and Dahlia the assistant manager replies “there will be no refund”. As such, the firing of Dahlia results in a vengeful encounter where the two embark on acrimonious correspondence in a comic ironical replica of the “Love Letters” (Ramona). This marks the beginning of a love-hate correspondence between the two people through emails and chats that stretch beyond the broken snow globe issue. Churchmouse production has staged the aforementioned comedy with the perfect combination of superb performances from Natalie Howe and Ben Bryant (Macchietto). Further, their performance shows that improvisation is key when faced with few choices. Consequently, nothing is left unexplored in this better-sweet love affair orchestrated by correspondence. As a result, the performance canvases the whole plot thoroughly hence leaving the crowd with the feeling of closure.

As aforementioned, the writing maps the concert with every detail of their original concept. While the playwrights were inspired by A.R Gurney’s “Love Letters”, they both admit that they had not read or seen the aforementioned play (Macchietto). As such, they depict an unsatisfied client who writes to a company complaining about a broken item he bought, demanding his cash back hence making the concert comical and ironical. Furthermore, Pegasus theatre showcased the Hate Mail concert directed by David Meglino while the cast consisted of Bethany Soder and J.R. Bradford as Aidan Wright designed the set and Cooper provided sound (Pegasus Theatre.Org). However, the playwrights observe that by writing in form of correspondence in characterization, there was no revelation of the next action hence leading to improvisation. Furthermore, the Clarion University theatre showcased its concert with the cast featuring Dennis Jr. as Preston and Shelby Hostetler as Dahlia with Abby Stone being the director (Clarion News). This production attracted many viewers as it was streamed online. Perhaps what stood out was the relevance of the comedy to the daily communication experiences encountered by people.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Dahlia and Preston experience agony and happiness through personal discovery resulting from funny and sarcastic correspondence. As such, conflicts arise depicting drama full of hate-love memories characterized by pain and pleasure; a true picture of an entertaining comedy. Reading through the lines, the characters have done a wonderful job of mastering their monologues and facial expression. However, one is left emotionally frustrated by the characterization where both actors talk to each other through writing but instead, you wish they chat directly. Perhaps this is a reflection of what we encounter in our daily communications. Hate Mail is the best concert to watch for entertainment and personal probing on how to improve our verbal relations.

Works Cited

Clarion News. “CU Theatre Streams Year’s First Production, ‘Hate Mail’.” Pennsylvania Western University Clarion, Web.

Macchietto, Danny. “The Column Online by John Garcia.” The Column Online, 2017, Web.

Pegasus Theatre.Org. “Pegasus Theatre Presents Hate Mail.” Bath House Cultural Center, Web.

Ramona Harper. “Hate Mail @ Pegasus Theatre (Bath House).” Onstage NTX, Web.