NYC Review: “2020: A Fantasy” at Shetler Studios
Featured: Gabrielle Wagner, Timothy Babcock. Photo by Gilli Getz
Max Berry, Contributing Critic - New York City
“2020: A Fantasy” tells the story of a married couple, divided by their political beliefs; the wife (Gabrielle Wagner), a democrat, and the husband (Timothy Babcock) a republican. In what seems like an almost apocalyptic setting, the two parties have fallen into a full-on war with each other, explosions every other minute, political unrest higher than ever as the 2020 election creeps closer. After a spirited role-play session in the jail cell beneath their house, Rebecca, the wife, gets locked inside. Her husband, refusing to let her out, takes the opportunity to try and influence her with his own beliefs and the two begin a heated debate, struggling to hold on to the love that they had for each other.
The decision that was the most detrimental to “2020” was the choice to have the husband outside of the cage looking in on his wife locked inside. By having the characters on opposite sides of the cage, you are already establishing an uneven distribution of power between the two. In a play that wants to unite people across the political spectrum (I’m assuming) this makes that even more difficult. Had both the husband and wife been locked in the cage, we could have gotten a very interesting situation, as the two characters would be trapped together, forced to confront their conflicting beliefs and their relationship. Nowhere to hide. Everything on the table. By keeping the husband outside of the cage, it allowed him to leave the conversation whenever he wanted and kept the stakes much lower than they could have been.
The political commentary felt all over the place. The play seemed to suffer from having too many ideas and not enough time or room to flesh them all out. Political buzzwords were thrown around without much thought. Things like “Fake News”, Hillary’s emails, and even Trump himself have almost become easy jokes in today’s never-ending storm of political opinion. Everything has been said and said again. Saying things aren’t enough anymore. What about them? What do we need to do?
The performances by Babcock and Wagner were quite well done, finding the heart amongst the political speak. Wagner seemed slightly over the top at times, which created a strange contrast with her calm and collected husband, but that might have been more due to the words given rather than the performance itself.
The ideas in “2020” were really interesting. Having a woman run for president with a husband that is directly opposed to her political views and how they deal with that is a fascinating idea that has so much to be explored. However, there was very little focus put on their relationship. The play begins with the two arguing and yelling, not showing any sign of attraction or love for the other person. Right off the bat, I wasn’t rooting for these two. This made the moments of tenderness, though really sweet, feel out of place. Most of the play was spent with them being really nasty to each other and it seemed the tenderness only came when it needed to rather than being woven throughout.
“2020” was a show that had a lot of promise and began with many great ideas but failed to go beyond what we see on the news. Clever lines and good ideas were lost amongst the multitude of things it wanted to say. “2020” covered a lot of topics, but again, I ask the question: What about them?
“2020: A Fantasy” was written by Raven Petretti-Stamper and directed by Ken Wolf.
It featured: Timothy Babcock and Gabrielle Wagner.
It rans at the Shetler Studios Theater (244 West 54th st, New York NY 10019)