Exit, Pursued by a Bear
Written by Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Cassy Sanders
Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln (map)
thru July 15 | tickets: $22-$30 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
Read entire review
Not much more than a great title
Theatre Seven presents
Exit, Pursued by a Bear
Review by Catey Sullivan
The best thing about Exit, Pursued By a Bear? The title. It’s the world’s best stage direction, lifted from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Sadly, Lauren Gunderson’s shrill piece is downhill from the title on. For one thing, it’s preposterous – and not in a good way. Exit, Pursued by a Bear plays with all the believability of broad farce but none of the humor. It’s presumably about revenge, but its characters are so clunkily drawn it is impossible to care a whit whether the abused woman gets even with her loutish husband. As for that husband, he’s a cartoon meanie, somebody who is difficult to take seriously as any kind of villain. The result is a 75-minute piece that’s impossible to invest in, and the result of that is a play that gets tedious and dull within the first 10 minutes.
Just what these replays of pivotal moments in Nan and Kyle’s relationship are supposed to accomplish is anybody’s guess. Kyle is supposed to see the error of his ways? Nan is to empower herself to walk out for good? Kyle is supposed to die a grisly death at the jaws of the stray bears Nan expects to come sauntering into the living room after Kyle is surrounded by raw venison chunks? It’s tough to work up enough interest to even ponder these questions.
That the audience is to believe bears are populous near the Wisconsin home where the action takes place is one in a host of improbabilities. Bears are rare to non-existent in the Midwest, a fact that’s symptomatic of the foundation of non-truth that Exit, Pursued by a Bear is based upon. Neither circumstances nor emotions ring true, not for an instant.
Another difficult with Exit, Pursued by a Bear lies in the fact that it’s all over the map, genre-wise. Is this a farce? A revenge comedy? A drama about an abused woman? It’s all and none of the above, with clashing performance styles creating a grating hodge-podge of a show. Obviously it’s entirely possible to blend comedy and drama with effective results. But there is no blend here, just a jarringly inconsistent pastiche of comedy and pathos. As if the principals in Exit….Bear weren’t over-the-top enough, Gunderson has inexplicably added an element of Jimmy Carter worship to the proceedings. Nan is constantly quoting the former president, giving his words an intonation that makes him seem like her spiritual guru. It’s an ongoing situation that’s weird without being interesting.
Finally, Exit Pursued by a Bear suffers from false-ending syndrome. The play seems to conclude twice before it actually does so. And when it does so, it’s with a non-sequitur of a karaoke number that seems inserted at random. It’s enough to make you want to make an early exit, pursued by a bear or not.
Rating: ★
Exit, Pursued by a Bear continues through July 15th at Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays at 2:30pm. Tickets are $22-$30, and are available by phone (773-404-7336) or online through Tix.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at TheatreSeven.org. (Running time: 75 minutes without intermission)
Photos by Amanda Clifford
