THRIVE, OR WHAT YOU WILL
The VORTEX’s award-winning Summer Youth Theatre presented the regional premiere of Thrive, Or What You Will, an epic play by LM Feldman and directed by Sarah Hogestyn. Based on the true story of Jeanne Baret, an eighteenth-century French herbalist who assumed a male identity and traveled onboard an exploratory ship bound for the pre-colonial South Pacific, the play explored this historical story through a contemporary lens, grappling with themes of gender, misogyny, colonial exploitation, cultural appropriation, written records, and invasive species.
“The play is somewhat of a Herculean task, as epics tend to be. It’s a play that almost requires you to develop a relationship with it to fully understand and take in. As such a play that plays with time, space, gender, and personification, every audience member gets something different out of it. I saw this play several times at Binghamton University, which worked to its benefit. Having a department digest this play over a semester made it a remarkable shared experience. Recommended especially for universities. “ – Steven Christopher McKnight
Unfortunately, interpreting this worthy play at the Vortex was a letdown. For those amongst us who didn’t quite make the transition from the 18th century (the two main protagonists come on stage dressed in period outfits and begin speaking in spurious English accents, which should have been French given the fact the story is about a French woman!) nor get the gist of the “modern setting” of the play until well after the intermission; the laziness of spoken filler words (which any playwright should know better not to use such as: like, I mean, ya know) with a no-context group of journalists whose method in their roles was far from professional.
The show could have been more straightforward as it switched characters without warning. I did not follow the thread, and the entire play unraveled. I am still determining the ages of these actors in the making, but if a better script had been given, they could have shown their mettle even more than this attempt.
ABOUT THE VORTEX’S SUMMER YOUTH THEATRE: For 32 seasons, SYT has provided high-caliber theatrical productions to Austin audiences as the jewel of VORTEX’s community engagement. Every year, students receive tuition-free training and experiences with adult artists who are among Austin’s most celebrated theatre professionals.