Fringe, you glad you didn’t see this play?

Shawn, forgive me for the words I am about to write, but please respect my honesty. We could not make it to the second act. We went to see a show in Stratford-upon-Avon, and were excited about the fact that we were seeing community theater, theater that was not professional on the West End. And to see the theater where Shakespeare was born, so cool! However, this performance of The Lady in the Van was some of the most confusing, cringey, and some of the (trying to choose my words nicely) strangest acting I have seen. I, in no means, am trying to claim that I am a theater expert, because I am not. However, I have seen enough theater to know what choices I would have made and what I would not have made, and there were a lot of things I unfortunately disagreed with. Before we even saw the show, I was skeptical. The programs, which were tri-fold pamphlets with AI art on the front as their advertisements!!!!! I understand that theater has no money, and Stratford might not have the biggest platter of local artists to design their program, but AI was everywhere. AI was on the playbill, in bathrooms, even their set design (Yes Shawn, their set!) had AI on it. Strike one of this show being sus… The story was fine; it was a little annoying at times, but the script and story were fine. The acting, lord help the acting. I think this was what made this show so hard to watch. I am the biggest supporter of community theater and finding your place in the world, but it was very evident that the mom and all three sons were the ones acting. It was a family affair for sure. The lady (of the lady in the van) I thought was the showstopper here; everyone else was there. There were jokes that did not quite land because of the line delivery from the actor, and the overall lack of direction. The choices of transitioning with songs but not fade out was certainly a choice that I would not have made. The whole production felt very much like a junior play, a play from middle school that you did to have fun. And what can I say, that is the whole point of theater!