You guys I went to the weirdest ill-fated search and rescue. You see, our hacker friend Mike was being held captive in a warehouse after attempting to investigate the disappearance of multiple women. After meeting a colleague in an alley near a dumpster in Silverlake, she explained to our small group of six people that we may have found Mike after over a year of searching for him. After trailing a cloaked figure to an abandoned warehouse, we were confronted/greeted by Dr. Victoria Polidori (Stepy Kamei), her friend Danny Harris (Erik Blair), and henchman Henry (Josh Ritz). Brandishing a gun, the three invited us into their lair to discover what has happened to Mike, the missing women, and the little matter of Dr. Polidori’s dead husband Grant Polidori (Austin Schumacher).
The third and final chapter in They Played Productions immersive theatre series Captivated: YOU treats Captivated one and Captivated two as anecdotes that inform a complicated narrative. Captivated: YOU serves as the culmination of a high-concept, sci-fi production, that is constructed to offer a resolution to a three-part story that fans have been following over the past year. It is ambitious? No question. I hate reporting, however, that with the lofty ambitions set by the previous installments, things end in a rushed mess.
LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!
A little backstory to offer perspective; Chapter One of Captivated depicted an uncomfortable cocktail party where Victoria Polidori, a psychologist, has recently lost her husband while dealing with peculiar colleagues, disturbing revelations, and odd party games. Chapter Two was a rather meta installment where audience members were invited to view and subsequently dive into a home video depicting the wake of Polidori’s husband. The two pieces were interesting in that they offered very disparate takes on the same narrative, demanding the audience piece things together.
Concluding the story, Chapter Three takes all of the players in the complex story and attempts to offer a resolution. As stated at the outset, we come upon Polidori once again who is, at this point, in full control of the men we have seen in previous installments along with a vaguely familiar woman who is handcuffed and sitting in a wheelchair. Our group was told to take a seat, offered sliced cheese, water, and La Croix, and the story began to unfold. It is revealed that Polidori is the descendant of Victor Frankenstein. It is also revealed that she has been attempting to bring her dead husband back to life through nefarious means. We find Mike, we learn more, and the story is resolved. Yet for all of the build-up, it is tragic to see the complex and layered narrative come to a relatively simple close.
For their parts, Kamei, Blair, and Ritz maintain their solid track record of fine performances. As Polidori, Kamei gives a disarming turn to the villain role that acts as the perfect red herring. Blair, who also wrote the script is creepy and unpredictable. Then there is Ritz with his unnerving, incessant stare. Fun stuff. It has been fun to see these three actors through very different scenarios in portraying a heavily complicated narrative.
As the story comes to a close I must also commend Blair for a grounded take on classic science fiction. It has been interesting to see what could be done with the Frankenstein narrative when placed in a very real, modern day setting. Sadly, with all of its ambitions and originality, Captivated built an expectation that demanded a far more complex resolution that it fails to meet. Captivated: You, while entertaining, is hardly the challenging conclusion that we expected. It is, instead, a satisfactory one.
Captivated: YOU takes place 5/10-12 and 5/17-19, with performances at 7, 8:30 and 11 PM each night.
Purchase your tickets here.
