Also a
play- not related to the book- and quite possibly the worst play EVER. It's a look-at-what's-wrong-with-the-world-let's-fix-it! declaration, in the spirit of
Upton Sinclair's
The Jungle, except not a fraction as focused, sincere, or well excecuted. In the case of "Inmates", what it wrong with the world is that it is- you guessed it-
crazy. The play has a laundry list of unrelated complaints:
Giuliani and his
decency commission object to
art,
the oil industry is despoiling the
environment, the election was stolen,
Dubya is a mental child and a pawn of the oil industry and of
Dick Cheney,
community gardens are destroyed, patients cannot get health care from their
HMOs,
Vieques is being bombed, and the
Star Wars Missile shield is going into place. Each issue is addressed in childish, unmelodious song, and the play begins with a drawn out, pathetically unoriginal dance. The plot: for drawing attention to these issues,
city college psychology teacher
professor Midlife has been kidnapped and imprisoned. One of his old students sets out to rescue him. Musical accompaniment is live
smooth jazz.
The entire performance has the feel of a fourth grade (
maybe) school play, written by the most popular airhead in the class. Except these are adults, and it's embarrassing to watch them, not least because they can be seen to squander their very impressive resources in the
scenery,
costumes, and
sound department. "Inmates" is being put on by
Theater for the New City in various outdoor locations around
New York City in August 2001. At least it's free.