David Rabe’s EARLY HISTORY OF FIRE

This is a combined report from me and our reader Phillip…

I love the first act of David Rabe’s EARLY HISTORY OF FIRE, but the second act seemed it was doused with lots of water, just like what happened to the forest fire in the play.  The second act just felt very long and the drama between the father and son just did not really helped the play at all. No nudity from the cast except Theo Stockman in his boxers.  Too bad that there was no nudity because there were lots of cute male cast members in the play….

Nudity Rating: 1

And from our reader Phillip:

“I saw this play the other night and I was disappointed. It is rather a pointless piece, set in 1962, mostly about a young working man’s relationship with his recently fired father and with his rich girlfriend. There are many themes introduced but none of them are developed in any depth. The mostly youthful cast is attractive and performs well, but when the material is as thin as this, all the good acting in the world is not going to make it compelling. And, no, there is no male nudity in the play at all, not even a bare chest, which is unfortunate, because the cast is largely male, and three of them are quite handsome, including the lead.”