2003 Minnesota Fringe Festival Articles and Reviews

I HATE THIS did not receive any reviews in the Twin Cities' media during the run of the Frige. But it did receive a lot of attention on the Fringe website, and on the 'blogs of those associated with the Fringe. Here is a sampling of the response:

This show kicked my ass
It seems that everywhere I've been so far this Fringe someone has been talking about "I Hate This." Now I know why. I was a little reticent about seeing it only because, as a friend of mine put it, "I like my theater funny" and as a rule, so do I. Then I met David Hansen briefly and decided that his show went on my 'A' list. Thank god. This is a beautifully written and sensitively performed piece. I was taken in by it and for the last part of the show was completely unaware of anyone else in the audience, conscious only of what was happening on stage. That is a very good and very rare thing. After the show there were a dozen or so people milling around outside Red Eye. When Mr. Hansen came out of the theater we spontaneously applauded - it was absolutely sincere and absolutely deserved. ‹Lara B. (Posted on Aug. 8)

I love this
David brings all of the characters to life in such a subtle and engossing way, that you are carried right along with him. It's a heartbreaking, hilarious, honest, truthful look from a father who has experienced something which I could only imagine. If you have seen this show, tell your friends. If you haven't seen this show, go. now. ‹Tim P. (Posted on Aug. 8)

Beautiful
This is my favorite show in the Fringe so far. David Hansen lived through an incredibly painful experience (with his wife, of course) and then turned around and created an amazing play from the story. It is quite funny at times and very honest and I can only imagine how cathartic writing it must have been if watching him perform it was such an emotional experience. ‹Robert K. (Posted on Aug. 8)

Universal
Wow. This show has ineffably amazed me. Though it's topic is a subject on which I have zero personal experience, I felt the whole show was directed at me and planted in me. There are such universal seeds sewn throughout the show, seeds of hope, shock, grief, irony, humor, love, and all things human. Overarching themes, down-to-earth delivery, and a captivating script/story make this a must-see. In fact, it should a prerequisite to living on the planet earth. It's a 90-minute show (more like 78 I think, unless my watch is slow) that whizzes by due to a talented cast/crew/writing team and a story that speaks to all. ‹Juliana P. (Posted on Aug. 9)

Worth seeing
I wasn't sure what to expect from this show, but I wound up very engaged by it -- and by its creator/performer, David Hansen. He's taken on a topic that many consider unspeakable and turned it into an honest, affecting and often very funny piece. This one's worth a look. ‹Colleen F. (Posted on Aug. 3)

Resistance is futile
You could come up with any number of reasons to try and talk yourself out of seeing a show like this. Forget them. Go. To say this is important theater is to curse it by making it sound like the entertainment equivalent of eating your vegetables. It is funny, it is painful, it is honest, it is angry, it is hopeful. It is the kind of theater that is done too rarely and that we even more rarely get the chance to see. Seek out theater like this. If people are saying positive things about a show such as this, it's worth your time to check out. It was, and remains, in my top ten must see shows of this festival. Glad I saved it to share with my mom. For further detail, see my blog with the League of Extraordinary Fringers, The Professor, aka Single White Fringe Geek. ‹Matthew E. (Posted on Aug. 14)

Hate the subject, not the play
This show was really well done. David is a marvelous performer, very engaging and authentic. The story he has to tell is, of course, horrible, but it's really worth hearing, and he tells it with humor and grace. The saddest thing is that this man travelled all the way from Cleveland to an opening night house of 7. Make room in your schedule for this one kids. It's worth it. ‹Brian A. (Posted on Aug. 2)

From Matthew Foster's blog:
Posted at 8/8/2003 01:05:41 AM
Day seven (agony): For regular readers now familiar with my... style, you know that I tend not to be an emotional person. I don't do well with them. I am a WGerCM (White German Catholic Midwesterner, sounds not unlike "w'gherkin") -- and we are way worse than WASPs when it comes to sticky susbstances, like grief and pain and joy and excitement. I prefer these things just go into a tiny little box with some mothballs and tuck them far, far away in my soul. (Where they fester and become scripts.)

And I do not like it when what happened to me tonight at Red Eye happened. No, sir, I do not like it at all.

I left the theater with a stomach ache, because what I saw was such well-executed grief that it made me nauseous.

I saw "I Hate This," David's retelling (in non-linear format) of the year around his son's stillbirth. Slides projected at the back of the stage clue the audience into the times his vignettes happen... It's torture enough that there is a slow -- and increasingly panicking -- countdown to the birth. But then, at different points in the show, David takes you forward in time to his life after the fact. And when I saw "September 2001" come up... What this does is -- you know when something Really Bad happens, like when your father dies when you're 17, or when you're on the verge of eviction and may have to move back in with your mom in the middle of South Dakota (not that I would know what either of these things would be), or... you know, something bad, right? And then you have to stare down the future in the face and dread settles in the pit of your heart and in the pit of your stomach because you know that you have nothing to do but be in agony, but you have no choice but to deal with it, to get through it, to come out on the other side of it or it'll consume you without even blinking? I have felt this feeling only a handful of times in my entire life. And tonight was one of them.

This is why I hate David Hansen now.

His show has everything good a show like this should have‹it is about grief, but it is not only about grief, because grief is an experience teetering on a (hopefully temporary) way of life, not a singular emotion‹not a concrete, rational, focused, solitary feeling. Grief is a whole lot of things all at once. And so there are jokes here, and anger, and helplessness, and the whole gamut. His show lacks everything bad a show like this should lack‹there is no wound-licking, no rambling psuedo-existentialist manifesto.

The show is just a father's story. Honest and straightforward, but not simple.

I hate David Hansen. The son of a bitch made me feel things I don't like feeling.

See it.

From Matthew Everett's blog:
Posted at 8/12/2003 11:17:08 PM

I Hate This
Bad Epitaph Theater

Mom says, "I'm sure it was very cathartic for him. Maybe it's a guy thing."

Rik Reppe gave this a glowing review, and everything I'd read about it was equally praiseworthy. Maybe following Staggering Toward America is simply an impossible task. But neither Mom nor I was as engaged by this piece.

However, there is much to admire here, and it's certainly in the upper echelon of Fringe shows this year. It portrays, with blessedly generous portions of (dark) humor, the male side of the experience of having a baby arrive stillborn. That is both its greatest strength, and perhaps where its weakness lies.

Strength - we don't see men talking about this subject. Few are both articulate enough to convey the experience and also open to sharing that kind of ordeal, reliving the pain with others. So in this sense it was unique. Also, the structure was helpful in getting the audience through the event and its fallout. Since the story wasn't told in strictly linear fashion, we didn't have to dwell in any one particular uncomfortable spot for very long. In addition, there were riffs - certain characters and situations - which evolved as he returned to them, yet were familiar enough to the audience that we could use them as anchors to pull us through the story.

Weakness - the only character who was fully realized was that of the playwright/performer himself. That, in and of itself, given the subject matter, is quite a feat. However, I think the thing missing for mom, and I know the thing missing for me, was the man's wife in all this. After all, she was going through this experience, too. Revealing more of her character, her pain and her journey, would have balanced and filled out the picture. Maybe he didn't feel it was his place to speak for her. Maybe that's literally a place that a man can't go. But I don't think including her in a more active fashion would have negated or diminished the presentation of any of the things he was going through.

Also, there was, understandably, a lot of anger in this play. It bordered on being unsympathetic. The central character seemed to have no time or patience for anyone else. As I say, this is understandable. But the good people they no doubt ran across rate barely a mention, while the often jaw-droppingly insensitive characters get plenty of stage time.

As I write this, I realize that it sounds foolish to ask this play about a dark subject to lighten up. It's probably as light as it can be. The focus of the play was chosen for a reason. The world I am invited into, and I am invited in, not merely preached at - again, no small feat, given the subject matter and legitimate causes for anger involved - that world makes me think, and to see my own world in a very different light. Perhaps that's all we can really ask of any play. And this brave, honest and frequently funny work does that. It's a great deal more than most plays do these days.