Theater: Title Bout (June 27)

Every week, I compose listings on the week's new plays for Metromix NY. I'm often disappointed by the titles that playwrights choose for their work, so I'm reviewing their titles now. Not the shows (I haven't seen them yet) just the titles. To read about the content of each show, click through its link to my listings on Metromix NY.


ALL NEW PEOPLE
Ambiguity usually adds to a title, but here it detracts. Maybe it means “All-New” (as in “All-New, All-Different X-Men”)? Or does the title mean to invite only new people, and all of them at that, as if it were a barker? The more it's examined, the less sense this dull title makes.

TRYST
An odd word, mostly because it looks archaic but it's not. It's got the very specific meaning of “romantic rendezvous," which works in this one-word title's favor by setting up a pair of lovers and a clandestine tone. As a title, “Tryst” encourages you to imagine the beginnings of a story, which is what a good title should do.

Buffy Blogthrough: 1.5 "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date"

Most mornings, to warm up my brain I write & edit 150 words — a TV episode, movie, news item, or whatever. Now that I've got Lady Hotspur watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I've decided to post these exercises so you & she can enjoy them too!

 

1.5 “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date”
broadcast: March 31, 1997
writer: Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali
director: David Semel

As a superhero, Buffy is a riff on Peter Parker, where ethical responsibilities frustrate the hero's normal adolescence. This conflict gets dramatized in the series' best episode so far. Buffy's first date with a hunky bookworm becomes a vampire hunt; though everyone survives (except the vampire, of course), she turns down a second date. The basis for her decision gives an extra twist to the Parker Archetype: the problem isn't her secret identity, it's her beau, who's a thrill-seeker and so a danger to himself and others. The episode's plot plays more as a structure to hang the character conflict on than a key development in the season's arc. The bat-like vampire king recruits an “Anointed One” who, according to prophecy, will kill the Slayer. The fake-out — this Anointed One isn't the scripture-quoting psycho vamp but a little kid — is satisfying mainly because we know the truth but Buffy doesn't.

Buffy Blogthrough: 1.4 "Teacher's Pet"

Most mornings, to warm up my brain I write & edit 150 words on yesterday's entertainment — a TV episode, movie, news item, or whatever. Now that I've got Lady Hotspur watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I've decided to post these exercises so you & she can enjoy them too!

1.4 "Teacher's Pet"
broadcast: March 24, 1997
writer: David Greenwalt
director: Bruce Seth Green

Of all the supporting characters, Xander has made the strongest impression so far. So he's the logical first choice for a focus on the supporting characters. In “Teacher's Pet,” he bumbles into a sexual encounter with a substitute teacher. But, this being Sunnydale, she's actually a human-sized praying mantis who implants her eggs in young male virgins. That's a zesty metaphor for adolescent male sexual anxiety about the mysteries of reproduction and female desire. But the execution, by Greenwalt and Green, is rough. The predictable plot does let Buffy exhibit her intelligence, first by using a vampire as a bloodhound and then by applying her science lessons to defeating the she-mantis. As nicely feminist as this turn is, it shifts the drama away from Xander and leaves his sexual anxiety unresolved.  Buffy's dedication to its secondary characters is an admirable strength, but this first example is a poor demonstration.