REVIEW: Bad Books (Round House Theatre)

There’s a line in Sharyn Rothstein’s Bad Books, premiering now at Round House, that goes something like: “The internet is strange; I just post things, and people listen to me.”

As Morris Theatre DC approaches 1,000 followers on Instagram, and well above a couple thousand views a month on this blog these days, I feel that. Heck, the character who said it, the Mother, and I even use this power for the same objective: inspire people to get to a location. (Granted, mine is a bit more positive, a local theatre — I’m not trying to sic a mob onto people.)

But this negativity is precisely what makes Bad Books so enthralling: Rothstein dutifully explores a spiraling series of consequences that stem from an attempt to ban a controversial book at a local library. Heartbreaking, snappy, and frequently humorous, Books is a superbly-directed fable of parenting and the right to access information.

Book

This two hander concerns the efforts of one Very Online Concerned Mother to prevent her unseen son, Jeremy, from acquiring controversial books from the local Librarian. The book in question is technically made up — google “Boob Juice novel” at your own risk — and uses its crass title as a presumable marketing tactic to Trojan Horse its themes of communication and personal autonomy into the houses of families everywhere. Naturally, the Librarian is against any banning; but the Mother’s headstrong beliefs in knowing her children the best create an immediate rock-hard place scenario. The diatribe between the two is tense and effective. The Mother has the most stage time across the one-part three-act play, which shows the increasingly bad state of affairs that happened as she confronted the Librarian, oblivious to the Streisand effect she has created for both her personal life and her cause. Meanwhile, the Librarian is an old-school punk (likely to be found living in Mount Pleasant since 1979, based on my estimates) and despite her childlessness, has used her position and literacy to understand the youth at an unexplored level by most parents. She’s the most empathetic character, by far, even when the show bends over backwards to have you feel for the Mother as her consequences unfold — which, you nonetheless do by the climax, but it doesn’t quite redeem her anti-information attitudes by the end. At the finale, it seems as if Rothstein has revealed that “both sides had points all along”, but this whataboutism feels moot when the Librarian agrees to conditions that led to the premise in the first place; the moral standing of how badly book banning can go has seemingly not stuck. 7/10

Acting

How exciting is it to get yet another Kate Eastwood Norris-Holly Twyford two-hander in one season? Following their excellent turns in Studio’s Summer, 1976 last year, expectations were high for this one given the unproven material. But as always with this pair, meeting expectations is sort of their bread and butter. Twyford as usual brings a bubbly charisma to her role, the cantankerous piety of a born-again Christian Mother. Slamming books, threatening the lives of goldfish, and apparent conflict with her mature spirituality are vivid via Twyford, and it is another great turn from her. It’s Norris, however, who runs this stage with not one, but three stunning roles in what might just be a career-best. Firstly, her Librarian is a smart-ass former punk that is exploding with hilarious sarcastic quips and taciturn intelligence; she furthers her performance via two additional roles, a Manager and then an Editor. Both are notably different from each other, yet still terrifically performed by Norris, the former with holistic corporatisms and the latter with capitalistic, though emotionally earnest, motivations. 10/10

Production

Artistic Director Ryan Rilette’s direction is well-constructed and excitedly blocked. With Meghan Raham’s staging of one desk, a chair, and a cart full of books on a revolve, it was all they needed to effectively tell this story, and the seamless movement of both Twyford and Norris as the revolve is constantly in motion the entire time is impressive. Additionally, the flush lighting design by Colin K Bills is moody without drawing attention away, and Ivania Stack’s surprisingly rich costuming adds lots of depth to each character. 8/10

Viz

Round House marketing chiefly relies on a photo of Norris and Twyford in opposition as the Librarian and the Mother. While Norris plays several roles in the show, it was smart to highlight her initial edgy one, since the red jacket contrasts with the deep denim of the Mother. Scrum-wise, the in-the-round setup is coolly lit, and allows you to pay attention to the details within such as the glass windows enclosing rows of books that continue to face ban threats, a poignant inclusion. 9/10

Verdict

Round House’s spring premiere is another golden effort from two of DC’s most legendary actresses, who make quick work of a smart book that tackles censorship at a time that needs this dialogue more than ever. 34/40