This past Sunday I went and saw Cranked, a one-person show written by Michael Northey.

Cranked details one teenager’s hellish experience with Meth addiction by having a narrator (Stan) tell a story using hip hop beats, words and poetry.  (Kyprios and Stylust wrote the songs…) The show was developed in Canada at Vancouver’s Green Thumb Theater and found its way to the New Victory Theater’s black blox space on 42nd Street.  It’s running until January 25th.

Hip hop is a great medium to hold teenagers’ attention and Kyle Cameron, the actor, made the meth addict’s paranoia, scrab-scratching and drug hunger feel incredibly real.  If Cranked is meant to scare and reach teenagers, I think it probably succeeds.  I’m not a teenager, but it totally scared me. 

….One-person shows are very hard to pull off and do well.  Having spent many years in the world of comedy, I know this first-hand. Comedians often work for years to shape one-person shows or translate their body of material into a larger story.  It’s not easy to do.

Crank succeeds in that respect.  It works as a show.  The directing is excellent.  The script isn’t overloaded with characters and when a new character is introduced, the director and actor found a way to make the character memorable.

My only criticism is that I wish the script were richer in detail, more specific to the individual teenager.  At times, I felt like the story was “about” meth addition versus being “by” or about an individual.  Stan’s story felt a little bit like it was pulled from an episode of Law & Order.  That said, the show still has impact.

I recommend it highly to kids and parents who are concerned about drugs and to performers who want to see a well-structured one person show.

For more information:

www.newvictory.org