STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: THEATER “Adult Entertainment”
The path to respect is frustrating: it involves reading a lot of classic material that’ll make your brain explode.
Written by Elaine May, Adult Entertainment is the story of a group of porn actors who appear on a cable access show hosted by one of them. They want to make their own “art film,” or at least their own porn film that goes beyond just porn. With the help of an “auteur” writer (who is the cameraman for the show), they get to work on making their film.
The play shows that clashing egos doesn’t advance a project, it stagnates it. Worse, it can take you back to square one.
The characters are written as over-the-top and clueless, but they’re supposed to be. There’s something cute and funny when they say something they have no experience in, like saying out loud the directions in a script.
There are parts that are infuriating and confusing. From solely a script point of view, some of the dialogue is questionable in that why it is present. The singing portions that, I think, act as transitions, but they don’t add to anything.
I came across the play when I was looking through the Samuel French online catalog, and the premise of the play sounded funny and interesting to me.
Adult Entertainment is not perfect. But the parts that shine through shine bright. Anyone who works with video, from professional to group school projects, can understand the frustration and work in filming. The fact that these “professionals” are as immature as anyone else prove that we all have our own pace at maturity.
Flip through the classics, and check it out.
