XENOGENESIS
at Cafe Voltaire
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I don’t recall having seen a successful science-fiction play since the Organic’s production of Warp! Too often, the sci-fi author spends so much time making his cockeyed vision of the future seem both scientific and plausible that such necessities as character development and coherent plotting get lost. In his eagerness to explain recombinant DNA and cryogenics, Serpas fails to tell an interesting story about real people.
This sort of ridiculous plotting might be a little more acceptable if the play weren’t so long-winded. It drags on, with endless flashbacks and dull lecture-hall exposition about the dangers of genetic engineering. Few of the characters develop full-blown personalities, and those who do are at the mercy of the preposterous plot.
Ice Cream Man is the sort of show that, in the tradition of Annoyance Theatre, seems to answer every criticism of its content with the snappy “It’s supposed to be that way.” The story of an ice cream man who’s framed by his childhood nemesis, who seeks to make a bundle by making crack-flavored ice cream, is in a bit of bad taste, isn’t it? It’s supposed to be that way. The idea of a serial-killing Good Humor man is a little gross, isn’t it? It’s supposed to be gross. Don’t you think the lyrics of the songs are pretty dumb? They’re supposed to be dumb.
