Miami New Drama again debuted a World Premier play, Bad Dog, written by emerging playwright Harley Elias, and directed by MND artistic director Michel Hausmann.
Bad Dog is a clever, thought-provoking satire that takes a big swing at Miami’s art world and identity politics. It’s fun and shocking and great art!
Bad Dog is layered, multi-faceted and exceptionally smart.
The premise is as follows.
It’s Art Basel in Miami and a blue chip gallery is getting ready to host a world renowned performance artist who intends to spend a month as a dog. The dog is rabid and needs to be trained since the artist (David / Buddy) is to go full “Daniel Day Lewis” in his performance. The play features four actors, the artist, and three women in the art gallery.
The acting is superb.
Big props to Caleb Scott who spends the whole night on his hands and knees, naked, and in a harness. The performance looked physically taxing and you may feel tense just watching him. Mia Matthews as the Gallerist is commanding and resounding. Liba Vaynberg’s Gallerina is shrewd and fast and complex. Krystal Millie Valdes (whom we loved in Lincoln Road Hustle) plays the Assistant, also displays range and complexity.
Bad Dog at Miami New Drama
We went into Bad Dog thinking it would tackle gender politics. Not even close. This play is an onion. On its top layer, it is a satire ridiculing the fakeness of the art world. It is social commentary on the commodification of art and the artist and the world that makes this world go round. We live in a city where a banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $120,000. It’s absurd. Bad Dog tackles that world and excels at poking fun at all the crap and dung and stool we deal with every year in early December. The literal shit show.
Great. Most plays would stop there.
But Bad Dog is just getting started as it dives into identity politics around Judaism. What does it mean to be a Jew? Or a self-hating Jew? Is there a level of exploitation surrounding one’s identity and how far are you willing to push those exploitations — but wait a minute — who exactly is exploiting who? Hold on. Let’s then add this to the satirical mix: a bunch of lies. What is art? A lie that tells the truth? What is the truth? The whole play might be a big lie? Is the artist really a dog? Is he actually a Jew? Whom are the women exploiting for their self-actualization? Or, are we all just phonies that are for sale?
Bad Dog Goes Deep
These are the deep questions at this play’s core. And that is a big swing, especially for Miami audiences. So applaud playwright Harley Elias and Artistic Director Michael Hausmann for taking the risk that Miami audiences are going to understand this. It is a very big risk and a lot to process. And this is where the big swing gets complicated.
Layered in all of this nuanced theme and social commentary, at times this play forgets some fundamental elements of storytelling. There are legitimate plot holes and unearned character reversals we have to pass over. To reveal them would spoil the play more.
So, in an absurd satire or farce do the dominos of plot need to fall into each other in a way that keep the Rube Goldberg machine going — if yes, plot is important, even in a satire, then Bad Dog flirts with unbelievable plot omissions that feel stunted possibly making the whole play a little highfalutin, to some. If no, in a satire some elements of plotting can be overlooked, then this onion is brilliantly layered in absurdity, lies, deceit, and identity politics around Judaism and the art world and greater society in general.
And it’s fun and shocking and great art!
It’s probably better and certainly more refreshing to take a big swing even if it misses a few pitches, or in this case, is steeped in literal poo.
Bad Dog Now Playing
Bad Dog is now playing at Miami New Drama.
For more info and tickets, click here.
This article was published with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
