The Dardy Family Home Movies, at the San Francisco Film Society

In many ways, contemporary theater is trying to be more like film, and not always for the better.  Movie star names are practically a must for Broadway marquees, and, as one of my professors likes to note, video projection is now so common a stage device that the Yale School of Drama has started offering a design degree in the subject.


So when I heard about The Dardy Family Home Movies by Stephen Sondheim by Erin Markey, a "live performance with video projection" at the San Francisco Film Society, I imagined the tables turning:  Now it's film -- or at least a film society -- that's trying to be more like theater!  Bwahaha!

(Erin Markey, not Stephen Sondheim.  Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society.)

But as I discussed in my review of the autobiographical solo show, I found its filmic elements to be its least successful.  The piece is quite strong; the emphasis on multimedia only clutters it.


The show continues through this Sunday.  Info here.