The Flu Season, written by Will Eno, cannot be taken at it’s name and I write that with cautious optimism about love in a mental ward. While all humans can appreciate the feeling of helplessness of battling flu symptoms and inundated with advertisements for flu shots, as Homo sapiens, we can also appreciate the unsuspecting places to find love. The love of another human, the love of theater, the love of our mental faculties – all great things.
The Thrust Theatre on the Belknap Campus presents the conundrum of circumstance, set in a theater and in a mental hospital. The cliché doctor/nurse love story runs concurrently with the undying love of two patients…or does it? The characters Epilogue and Prologue are puppeteers of sorts, playing with the play as the characters in the play, in the play, play. Clear as mud? Epilogue and Prologue offer self-serving reflections on the actors. The doctor/nurse relationship makes the patients’ relationship seem functional. The laughs are guaranteed and the only tissues needed are those to wipe the tears of laughter from your eyes.
Director and Professor of Drama at U of L, J.R. Tompkins is ecstatic about this production. Any director is privy to the nuances of the script, reading and re-reading and can recite lines as well as the actors. The Flu Season is a comedic relief, poking at the common actions of directors as they get their production in order.
As for this production, the play will be at the Thrust Theater, 2314 Floyd Street and runs November 16th -19th with the curtain at 8pm nightly, 3pm matinees on November 19th and 20th. Show tickets are $12 for the general public, $10 for U of L faculty and staff, and $8 for students and senior citizens. For tickets and information, call 502-852-6814 or visit www.
