Media Archive

Eve Ensler’s new play poses the question “What is garbage?” in a plea for enlightened consumerism.

Sure, there are preachy moments, but for the most part Ensler finds the tricky balance between drama and comedy, between making some serious points and inducing some genuine laughs. The actors, main and supporting, nail it. The characters, while exaggerated at times, are not caricatures, and all of them evolve their positions over the course of the play.

Political correctness is a hostile phrase. It is used as a dismissal of those who criticize the systems of power. The phrase is used to squash and indict those who question and criticize. They are pigeonholed as being too pure, too uncompromising, too demanding, too narrow. Ensler takes the phrase and ups the ante to an obsession. She turns the tables and fuses them inside out: OPC becomes the diagnosis for those who care too much.

“How are we to survive as a species if we insist on destroying the world we love?”

For Thirlby, a Shakespearean-trained stage and screen actor who is known for Juno and Dredd, this character is the one she’s been looking for. “Oftentimes when you read a great role,” she says, “you never get the opportunity to play it, so this is exciting for me.”

Ensler started writing the play seven years ago, when she became obsessed with issues such as global warming. Back then most people she knew shrugged it off, but now, she says, they are deeply concerned.

Ensler’s new play may be a comedy, by American waste is no joke.

The actress, who’s appearing in A.R.T.’s new show, says she picked up a few tips from her character.