tellitslant | (Reply)

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Yeah, I was trying to come up with something that I'd seen recently where I would call the acting bad, in order to compare, and I really couldn't - outside of, say, less professional works like at the Fringe, which are not quite the same anyway. I'm going to have to disagree with Matt about the production values, though - 'boring' is, well, if the rest of the work is fine-to-good, it's just going to slip past me, as long as it's technically proficient. And granted I know I tend to be more clued in to that sort of thing than most audience members who aren't tv or theatre critics, but bad production elements knock me out as much as bad writing. I mean, take "Domesticated" - there were some great lighting moments in it, but I also got really annoyed because almost all the lights were from above, which also meant there were facial shadows that didn't lend anything to the performances. Just get a low wash or something and even that out, man. :P (Partly this was due to the space itself, but... there are ways to fix that.)

I think you're right about the creepy factor of good acting and bad writing. I also find myself distracted by the actors' skill, though - having to commit enough to the crap writing to still give a good performance!