Sam (Dan de la Motte) wants to make a difference. He volunteers at an LGBT helpline, is open about his identity, and writes full-time articles for Z-list pop star Riley Sibanda’s Substack “through a queer lens” – although he’s not 100 percent sure what that means. He worries that his life has little real meaning, but also wonders why what’s happening to him doesn’t matter. It’s his life, after all; doesn’t it have value? And if people want to read about his experiences, doesn’t that legitimize them? At first, it seems like he’s on the path to self-love…
reviews
Good
This careful consideration of the importance of an activist may be overly ambitious, but it is thought-provoking.
Sam (Dan de la Motte) wants to make a difference. He volunteers at an LGBT helpline, is open about his identity, and writes full-time articles for Z-list pop star Riley Sibanda’s Substack “from a queer perspective” — though he’s not 100% sure what that means.
He worries that his life has little real meaning, but he also wonders why what is happening to him is not important. After all, it’s his life; doesn’t that have value? And if people want to read about his experiences, doesn’t that legitimize them? At first, it seems like he’s on the path to self-love and self-confidence, to realizing that he’s important. But that’s not the path to feeling good. Too many pills and alcohol As Sam falls more and more in love with his life as a celebrity, things take a turn for the worse.
De la Motte is a powerful leading man, maintaining the energy throughout the play’s 90 minutes without a break, switching effortlessly between each character he portrays while always maintaining a connection with the audience.
The set is minimalist but effective. Sam moves from domestic comforts (armchair and lamp) to subway car (a metal bar) to VIP club box (the mixing desk) and back again in the small space, and the location is never hard to imagine despite the sparse props. The skill here, however, is marred by inconsistent and often incoherent lighting. While it makes sense at first—a soft spotlight and warm table lamp for a conversation in the apartment, a harsh red glow for a few lines in the bathroom—it pretty quickly devolves into what feels like an over-the-top discovery of the lighting desk’s presets. There are flashes, blackouts, and a general feeling of detachment from what’s happening onstage.
It is not enough to have the right opinion; you must act on it. That is the message we are left with at the end of the play, and it is something that Sam never fully understands. The play is very much about self-confidence and is self-confident – perhaps most evident in Sam’s lack of this quality. Although there are many jokes and pithy comments, David LevesleyThe script is well written and has a lot of weight.
However, for a one-person production Too many pills and alcohol drags. It’s not that there isn’t enough to say, it’s that the play is crammed with ideas that it doesn’t adequately interrogate. By the end, it feels like you’re only just getting started in the conversation. Important, complex questions are being asked – what does it mean to be an activist? Is fun political? How do you change the minds of people fed misinformation, fear and hate? – but there’s just not the space to explore them to a satisfactory degree within the context of the play.
Too many pills and alcohol still needs work, but the foundation has been laid for a piece that offers a thoughtful and thought-provoking reflection on the turbulent, dangerous times we live in.
Author: David Levesley
Director: Charles Quittner
With songs by: Eden Tredwell
Too many pills and alcohol runs at The Divine until Tuesday, JULY 2.
Further details and booking information can be found here.
