"Boom" Makes an Impact

I fully enjoyed New Rep’s production of “Boom.” This is a unique piece of theatre that is certainly worth seeing, and I commend New Rep for choosing to present it.

The basic concept – boy meets girl, boy traps girl in bomb shelter so as to re-populate the earth once comet hits – is rich with comic opportunity, and the two actors, Zofia Gozynska and Scott Sweatt, are able to capitalize on that quite well. There is less success with the few dramatic moments that are attempted, but they are rare enough not to detract from the piece as a whole. The added layer, provided by Karen MacDonald’s museum guide who is presenting this story to a tour group far in the future, opens the play up to more laughter, as well as providing a bit of mystery; small pieces of information are revealed one by one in her monologues, allowing the audience to slowly piece together what is going on.

There are many strong elements of this production. Jennifer Guadagno’s costumes are interesting and evocative, and play a large part in character development. MacDonald’s character, Barbara, is a complete joy to watch. Sweatt, as Jules, emerges more and more strongly as the piece goes by, and his excellent comic timing provides many of the larger laugh moments. The weaker link is Gozynska, as Jo. Unfortunately, this character is underwritten; she is essentially a pile of clichés, and never prevails over them. Gozynska gives it her best shot, but she is unable to infuse Jo with enough life to overcome the script’s shortcomings.

This underwritten part is one of the pieces that makes the script feel a bit like a work in progress. The plot of “Boom” is a funny and interesting idea, made more interesting by the play’s format of a story within a story. But this is a bit of a difficult construction, and the connections between the two stories, while present, aren’t fully explained or realized, which prevents the play from being quite as good as it could be.

Despite these few complaints, “Boom” is an exciting new piece of theatre, and this production is a whole lot of fun to watch.