Written and Performed by Kevin Bone. Developed and Directed by Jessica Lynn Johnson.
Produced as part of the Solofest Festival
The Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oks, 91423
One of the very many wonderful things about solo shows is how I find myself getting to know people that I would otherwise never meet.
Listening to their stories, understanding a little of how they tick and taking a journey with them through their lives, it’s very leveling. It’s humbling and it’s often funny, moving and warmly surprising.
“Hijacked” is one of those shows you don’t soon forget and is written and performed by the rather lovely Kevin Bone. Kevin is caught in a loop of sorts. He is trying to put on a solo show, but his various and hilarious waring personalties seem determined to throw ever increasing obstacles in his feverish path. It’s a play full of mayhem and frustration and palpable fury, but there’s no real anger in the frustration, only the nervousness of a man hell bent of completion this goal, come hell or high water….with an ever increasing possibility of absolute failure. So life, basically.
It’s great concept to write a show about writing a show and all the many ways and means we try to sabotage ourselves out of what we really need. Kevin bounces from one aggravated part of himself to another as he paces the stage, like a caged animal aware that any minute might be either his last on this earth, or his last in the cage.
Kevin’s energy vibrates through the theatre, he has us all on edge and slightly off kilter, which I suppose is the point.
He gives us who he is, at least in this moment, and he does this very, very well. We spend some time inside his head, surrounded by his various versions of himself and it’s invigorating, inspiring and a little bit manic, which seems to be who he is!
As a solo work “Hijacked” is very successful. Kevin Bone works the audience and the stage with equal aplomb. He careens and he shimmies and he talks a mile a minute, wrestling with his id and his ego and his sense of self, all the while keeping us laughing. Bravo!