Holy Mackerel, Theater of the Absurder

Holy Mackerel

Theater of the Absurder

David P. Press

Copyright © 2013 David P. Press

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Table of Contents

Author’s Preface

The Last Remake of King Kong

Channel Zer-0

About the Author

Author’s Preface

Let’s call my two plays here, The Last Remake of King Kong and Channel Zer-0, comedies of the absurd. I am not sure what that label means, but they may be absurder than that. These plays stand close to Ionesco and Groucho Marx; not so close to the very talented John Logan and Katori Hall. Close to Elmer Rice, but outside the shadow of all but the most experimental parts of the most experimental plays of the triumvirate of the American stage, O’Neill, Williams, and Miller, all playwrights who knock my socks off. Sockless, I find myself writing something very different.

The Last Remake of King Kong and Channel Zer-0 are not realistic comedies about family or groups of friends, not the well-made plays of living room dramas that blueprint so much of the American stage. One is about secret television transmissions, the other about the iconic characters from the legend of King Kong. There is much broad humor, some jokes that are so inside maybe no one will get them, the innate humor of language, and the clown comedy of stage antics. There are also moments that choke off the laughter. Writing is an act of discovery, and as I wrote and read these plays, I discovered some interesting and disturbing things going on about roles and identities, about the subjectivity of a sarcastic reality, about popular culture, and about acting and not acting.

Each play is about 30 minutes long. This makes either or both well suited to a production that showcases an evening of three or more one-act plays. (The Last Remake of King Kong is actually a two-acter with two scenes each, but it still runs 30 minutes). The plays also serve well for staged readings, and for classroom performances to illustrate experimental theater.

Both The Last Remake of King Kong and Channel Zer-0 require only two actors and an off-stage voice. Stage props and set design may be as minimal or as complex as you wish. A well-provisioned set designer so inclined could make fairly elaborate sets, but the plays lean toward a world of paper moons and cardboard seas. In Milwaukee, the plays were performed with televisions and Empire State Buildings made of cardboard boxes.

The plays contain some specific and unique references to Milwaukee