This review was sent in by Mike, who rates it a PICK:
Too Much Light is an eclectic and innovative format combining the thought-provoking intensity of rehearsed, premeditated theater with the energy and unpredictability of in your face improvisation. The goal of the production is to perform in 60 mintues 30 plays written by the show's six performers. The production is particularly entertaining because of the high level of audience participation and the use of chance. Even before the audience has made it's way to seats in the small theater, the excitement has already begun, each having rolled a die to determine the price of his own ticket. Chance and audience participation continue throughout the show, with the audience choosing the order of the plays by shouting numbers at the top of their lungs, and several plays involve volunteers from the audience, making each performance unique while keeping you on the edge of your seat. And yet, what I found truly impressive about Too Much Light is that the cast manages to deliver a range of plays from melancholy to philosophical to whimscal, despite frantically running around the set to manage the time constraint and relying on dollar-store props and gags. Each week, the performance changes as new plays are added and old ones are removed, so you can enjoy this show again and again without ever again seeing the same thing.A few years back, when this show was resident in a Brooklyn theater after a long run in Chicago, Jeffrey Lewonczyk reviewed it for www.nytheatre.com
With tickets costing a flat $15 in advance or $11-$16 at the door (depending on your luck), Too Much Light is a great value and an entertaining way to kick off a Friday or Saturday night in the Village. You might even find yourself donating a little extra to this non-profit organization on the way out.
How is it that theatre isn't considered... to be as exciting and immediate as sports? A play and a game are both live, physical events performed in front of an audience that, if all goes right, is intimately embroiled in the fortunes of the players. I suppose an exploration of the issues surrounding this disjoint could fill volumes, but no one can deny that it exists, and that it finds theatre at a noticeable disadvantage. What, the frustrated lover of theatrics wails as he beats his breast and rends his garments, is to be done?
Well, the Neo-Futurists have come up with a pretty good example of how the gap can be narrowed. Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, which has been running in Chicago for 16 years, presents a group of actors who attempt to perform 30 original plays in 60 minutes—an athletic endeavor to be sure, and one which viscerally exploits the connection between performer and spectator for maximum ka-pow...
The randomness-loving interactivity of the evening becomes apparent before the audience is even let into the space, when each attendee must roll a six-sided die to dictate how much admission will set them back... Next, audience members are brusquely asked their names and given name tags that in no way resemble their answers (mine said "Avenue"). Then, after being given a program, or "menu," the games begin.
