A play worth dying for…maybe
The New Ohio Theatre recently presented the world premiere of ‘Death of the Liberal Class.’ Written by Robert Lyons, the play revolves around a liberal journalist, Nick (Steven Rattazzi), who escapes to a family farm in hopes of finding peace of mind. However, when his teenage daughter Andrea (Jeanette Diloné) tags along, the peace soon dissipates. And on top of that she also brings along her sketchy hacktivist boyfriend who is nothing but trouble from the start. And things get even messier when his soon to be ex-wife Maggie (Olivia Horton) comes to the farm to discuss their separation. With so many pieces moving at the same time, Nick’s vision for happiness moves further and further away.
Death of the Liberal Class is inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges’s book, ‘Death of the Liberal Class.’ With that in mind, this play does live up to expectations. Although this play is more dramatic than anything else, it manages to insert a lot of dark humor into the mix. The way that the jokes seemed to seamlessly fall into line with the plot is something to commend. Very often dramatic works try to insert comedy into the mix but fail miserably because they push for the humor too much. But with this play, the laughs seemed to flow gradually and naturally.
Another thing to be said about this play is how well the characters were developed. Each character in the play felt very real and genuine. This play’s conflict is drawing from very human emotions and concepts such as happiness and loneliness. And with that in mind, ‘Death of the Liberal Class’ does an amazing job at making the audience feel for the characters. Truly, this play does an excellent job of keeping the audience interested in the plot. Although some of the plot points seemed a little farfetched at times, it didn’t necessarily take away from the overall quality of the play. In fact, it added to the attempt at humor that the play was going for.
Overall, ‘Death of the Liberal Class’ was a very interesting and fun play to watch. Intimate, humorous, dramatic, and captivating are all words that would perfectly describe this play. ‘Death of the Liberal Class’ runs from January 23- February 13 at The New Ohio Theatre. The performances are Wednesdays-Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays-Saturdays at pm, and Sundays at 5pm. Tickets are $18 and well worth the purchase.
