Review Roundup: Immersive CAUGHT at Think Tank Gallery - What Did The Critics Think?

CAUGHT runs at Think Tank Gallery through December 10. Caught is presented by Firefly Theatre and Films, in association with Think Tank Gallery and Vs, Theatre. The show is fully immersive, set in a real art show at Think Tank Gallery. CAUGHT was written by Christopher Chen.

You walk into a gallery hosting District 798, a show of new work inspired by a legendary Chinese dissident artist who was imprisoned in China for a single, epic work of art. Recently profiled in The New Yorker, the Chinese artist himself is present, and begins his presentation by sharing the details of an ordeal that breaks your heart and stirs your sense of justice. But... his lecture is interrupted; then that interruption is broken. Soon, you find yourself in a labyrinthine exploration of truth, art, social justice, and cultural appropriation, where nothing is as it first appears.

CAUGHT stars Louis Changchien, Jackie Chung, Jessica Kaye, and Steven Klein. It is directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskander, with environment and scenic design by Stephen Gifford.

Let's see what the critics had to say!

Daryl H. MIller, The Los Angeles Times: As frames of reality shift, so does the piece's form. Is this visual art? Drama? Or something else entirely? Even the gallery space is not what it seems; it keeps opening into something new. Surprise turns to laughter, and reactions just keep morphing... The more you participate, the more you will get out of the experience. Look around. Ask questions... One thing that's certain: You'll leave with a better appreciation of life's shifting perspectives, this Rubik's Cube of reality.

Gil Kaan, BroadwayWorld: In CAUGHT's final scene, most cleverly staged from the vantage point of the actors looking into a dressing room mirror directly into the audience, Chung and Changchien have their meta moments revealing they're really actors unwinding after their respective scenes. Or aren't they still actors playing actors? Chung and Changchien wow with their impeccably timed synchronized looks and reactions. Very nice!

Noah J. Nelson, No Proscenium: The dissident weaves in and out through the fashionable gallery crowd as he tells his story before finally settling in behind a microphone. It's almost natural enough to make you believe that it's real, and maybe some of the gallery-goers do think its real. After all, The Production Company is playing it fast and loose with whether this is a play or a gallery show called District 798. Indeed, what you believe this to be kind of depends on how you got there in the first place.

Terry Morgan, Stage Raw: Director Ed Sylvandus Iskandar's staging uses every part of the art gallery (a credit to Stephen Gifford's clever scenic design) to bring the play's concepts to fruition, and he gets tremendous work from his actors. Chen's writing is playfully creative (his concept of an imaginary protest is especially choice) but serious. His depiction of reality as a mask that is removed to reveal an endless series of masks beneath invites disequilibrium - a sort of moral seasickness in the viewer that is heady if ultimately disheartening. Caught is an entertaining, dizzyingly smart tour de force, and with any justice, this production will sell out its run.

Photo: Vincent Madero

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