KC Fringe "Loganheim, the Clock Smasher" review by kellyluck

Repent, Loganheim! Said the Ticktockman
Rating: 4

Loganheim, the Clock Smasher 

KC Fringe Festival

Call him... yes, Loganheim. That will do. He is a teenager, standing at the age just south of manhood, at the exact moment where he knows Everything. This is the story of how he rebelled against clocks, against the measuring of time. It's also about consequences, and the toll they take on yourself and on others. But mostly, it is about how a child starts to become an adult.

Loganheim (Zacharty Weaver, who wrote the piece) wakes up a little too early one morning. The sound of the alarm drives him to distraction, and he hammers it to bits. This energizes him no end, and he determines to go forth and destroy any and all devices that slice time and regulate and make us their slaves. First order of business: blow his job interview. The snags the interviewer's (Wolfgang Bucher) watch and smashes it gleefully before running away. Over the course of the day, he manages to alienate family and friends with his antics, completely oblivious as he carries out his mission to "save" them.

At the end of the day, he finds himself in the clock shop, baseball bat at the ready. Just when he's about to begin, out comes the clockmaker, Dick Tod (Richard Alan Nichols), a genial old man and manufacturer of unusual clocks right out of Bradbury. He's been waiting for Loganheim, and is all too happy to let him proceed. Thrown off by this charm offensive, Loganheim doesn't really know how to proceed. He struggles to maintain his rebel persona, but over the next twenty-four hours finds it melting away like the spring thaw in the light of the grownup world in which he is suddenly increasingly a part.

This is a charming and unusual piece. It was a winner of the 2011 Young Playwrights National Playwriting Competition, and we can see why. It is quite unexpected in several places, and Mr Weaver displays a quirky, unique writing style that it will be most gratifying to watch develop. The performers are all generally quite good I particularly enjoyed Ellie Beck as the sister),  and sound effects were sparse, but adequate.

In the play, The clockmaker declares he sees the light of potential in Loganheim. And there is a lot of potential in the talent on display here, too. Sooner or later, we all learn to stop worrying and love the clock, but how we define the time that defines us is still very much up to us.