Customer Reviews

Raised in Captivity

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nicky Silver again makes us laugh at the horrors of everyday life and cry at laughter with RAISED IN CAPTIVITY. As with PTERODACTYLS and FAT MEN IN SKIRTS, Silver puts the fun back into dysfunctional families. RAISED IN CAPTIVITY revolves around SEBASTION BLISS, an emotional celibate who can't get over the death of a lover; a convict with whom SEBASTIAN correponds; BERNADETTE, his sister who is afraid of change; her huband, KIP, who has an obsession with teeth; and SEBASTIAN'S psychologist, HILLARY, who can't deal with her own problems. The first act is set up in a collage of short scenes; and the second is very farcical. A bit tamer than his earlier work but just as good! Psychologically stimulating. Excellent writing. Very funny, and extremely moving.

Probably one of Silver's most endearing and quirkiest plays. Sebastion Bliss is a young man who has been an emotional celibate ever since his lover died eleven years ago. Following the funeral of his mother, Sebastian finds himself thrust into situations with other humans against his will. His twin sister Bernadette is completely unstable, her husband Kip is a dentist who hates teeth, his psychiatrist Hillary is a self-mutilating basket case, and his only friend is Dylan, a convicted murderer whom he writes letters to and has never seen.

Over the course of the play, characters realize how much or little they need one another, and that there are many different types of love. The play moves from dark comedy to drama and back again with lightning quickness. The final moment between Bernadette and Sebastian is really beautiful and sweet, if unconventional. Unconventional is probably the best way to describe this play. But it's unconventional in the best way possible.

I adore everything Nicky Silver writes...so amazing and funny and dark. This play is not as dark as some of his earlier works but is still biting and full of odd characters and outrageous situations. The scenes between the main character and his shrink are some of the funniest I've read since Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang. In addition to this I would also highly recommend Nicky Silvers 'Etiquette and Vitriol' anthology.

I love this quirky piece of writing, which may not add up to much of a play, but contains some dazzling scenes, including that of an insane psychologist who has become emotionally dependent on her client ("Are you seeing someone else?"), and a wild, really scary, gay trick who becomes a sinister knife- wielding thief. This is the sort of satirical farce one associates more with the British, who seem more able than Americans to take their laughter with shards of glass blown at them. Neil Simon-like humor is so comforting in comparison. Silver will, as a result, remain somewhat off track for theater goers, but this is the sort of humor that now dominates HBO on shows like "Six Feet Under." Highly recommended.

This product is not as described. I bought this from the description and reviews for my teens to use for a duo speech. This is not a play for children of any age, or any adult who doesn't like being assaulted, unnecessarily, with 'adult' material. By page 11 this play has introduced smoking drugs, excessive foul language, homosexuality, disrespect of parents, scum talk, and sex. I bought four of this author's plays and ALL of them were similar: Raised in Captivity, Pterodactyls, Altruists, Five Women Wear Same Dress... Nicky Silver plays are NOT humorous and should be in the adult section. We'd seen a short clip from this title, but soon realized the couple performing it had added many of their own words to make it funny at all. The part they used from this play to form their skit was dull and boring, but they simply used the idea of the setting and added most of their own funny dialogue. This author obviously was trying to see how many deplorable things she could fit into a single act in the least amount of pages. Didn't laugh once the first half, skipped the rest. Returned all with Amazon's amazing return policy.