Well, I saw SF X 5 last weekend and took liberal notes - so I feel that as this is the last weekend to see it, I'll give a quick review to (hopefully) entice all of you to go see it.

There are "spoilers" below, though I don't give away any endings, but if you'd rather not know, just skip this email until you have seen them.

Before getting into each individual play, I would like to comment on the title of the groups of plays as a whole. Five short Science Fiction plays is slightly inaccurate - as two of the plays are clearly fantasy - but I also understand that most of the public would have been confused by something like "five speculative fiction plays" since Speculative fiction is a term generally only used in SF/F circles, and "five Science Fiction and Fantasy plays" may have caused layout problems (not to mention SF/F X 5 would have looked like an algebraic equation, not a title).

On to the first play:

"Youtahneeks" by James Arrington

"the matriarch Aunt Pearl addressing her clan."

This play is somewhat in the same vein as the book "Hotel of the Mysteries" where archeologists dig up relics of our time and imbue into them religious meanings and study even the most simple of concepts as though they were the very mysteries of the Universe.

The basic setup is that Paleolingusits of the future have found the "holy book" of Microsoft and a damaged copy of a Farley Family reunion videocassette (which was very brave of Arrington to put into this play). Using these and other sources the paleolinguists recreate, in a stuffy, stilted and very academic (and very funny) way the dialect of Utah (particularly, as the play puts it "American Farkisms") was pronounced and used in such everyday situations as arguments on dates and parents saying farewell to their children attending BYU. (To pronounce the title correctly, rhyme it with the term "eubonics" that linguists use today for the African- American dialect).

This play is basically the equivalent of an overlong Saturday night live sketch. It's really funny at first, but it really is a one-joke play. There's nothing beyond making fun of the Utah dialect (or at least the way paleolinguists would treat it in the future). There are some very funny skits and pronunciations, and then there are more. And more. And more. It gets tiresome. This particular sketch (it is more of a sketch than a play) would have benefitted from being half as long.

But it is funny.

"Fata Morgana" by Scott Bronson

Q: Are you God?
A: I don't remember.

This ties for the best play in the bunch. It starts off with an obviously Hindu deity doing Yoga on the stage, a very American farmer walking across in the background and a vaguely European peasant girl wandering around. Quite intriguing set up, especially when the peasant girl begins pestering the Hindu deity about "what it's all for." The girl seems unaware of the American farmer setting up a table with food on it in the background until the very end, when the farmer tries to dissuade her from following the deity's advice through some technobabble.

At first I thought it was a science vs. religion theme, but I've come to decide that this play was more about physical vs. spiritual. The Hindu deity is about as Eastern and spiritual as possible (especially if you understand the Hindu philosophy of rejecting the spiritual) - and the American farmer was about as physical and Western as you can get. He was taking care of his bodily needs by eating, while the deity was overcoming the body through Yoga and meditation. Very thought provoking - of all the plays, the most likely to create discussion in the car on the way home at the very least.

"On the way out" by Shannyn Walters

"No dear, I'm still dead."

This play may have been more enjoyable, but the dead lady was breathing!!!! It doesn't take much to get me to suspend my disbelief, but a dead lady taking in rather large breaths of air (especially when she has a purse on her stomach to accentuate the fact) ruins it for me. I could accept it when she "comes back to life" halfway through the play (despite her protestations that she's still dead), but at the beginning and end, when she's supposed to be dead, she is taking in large, gulping breaths of air that cause the purse on her stomach to move several inches. It might have been better to have no purse on her stomach and tell the actress to breathe shallowly.

This play was rather funny, and the characters all well acted. The dialogue was well written, and the storyline moved rather quickly. I enjoyed it for that part. That's all I can say.

"Let the Memories Die." by Thom Duncan

"The fringe benefits are great."

The basic set up is one that hardly needs a Science Fiction set up. A house must be demolished to make way for some important building or another, but the old lady who lives there won't leave - at least not until she sees her niece. Her niece "Sunny" is a member of the "Star Corps" or something like that (I forget the exact name).

The play at first seems odd, in that Sunny is narrating everything as it happens (she says, for example "She reached out to touch me" as the other actress reaches out to touch her). At first I found this annoying and began to wonder what this play had to do with anything really SF other than a few odd references here and there, and then an ending worthy of M. Night Shyamalan sneaked up on me and redeemed the entire piece. I can't give it away, of course - but it was a good ending, and the actress - despite having some difficulty with her lines, managed to pull it off very well.

"The M.A.K.E.R." by James Arrington

"I pray."

This is the other one that ties fro best in the bunch. Absolutely hilarious, it's also a fair Garden of Eden allegory that probably has deeper meanings behind it, but I was too busy having fun to try to do any close readings of the play.

Basically, the richest man in the Universe spends all of his money to buy a machine called "The M.A.K.E.R." which will give him whatever he wants. However, to distinguish between casual conversation and true wishes, he must use the trip word "pray" to activate the maker (which is artificially intelligent, speaks, and has an interesting sense of humor). The rich dude locks himself in a warehouse, totally sealed off from the rest of humanity, convinced he will live the rest of his days in debauchery. Of course, as is common ever since genies first appeared, what you wish for may not always be what you really want, and having all your desires granted can be rather boring.

There you go. Hope everyone who can see these plays will. I enjoyed myself and came away glad I saw it.