“Stupid F**cking Bird” brings humor and life lessons close to the audience

This past weekend, the play, “Stupid F**king Bird,” came to the Eldred Blackbox with high expectations. Written by Aaron Posner, the play brought the themes of love and life to light in a complicated but seemingly understandable way. For different reasons, the main characters all were disappointed in both their lives and love affairs. While one character worried about his future in the dramatic arts and his girlfriend’s affections, his uncle wondered if he had wasted his whole life, pretending to be something that he is not.

At first glance, the main characters may have appeared flat, but these layers of self-doubt produced complex characters that were more than just the clichés of a tortured artist, a girl in love with someone who doesn’t know she exists, the hilarious best friend or the mother who did the best she could. These characters brought more depth to the play.

The comedy of the play, however, was what made it worth watching over and over. The one-liners and witty rapport among the characters created laughs, and the way that the characters would engage the audience at times by asking them questions displayed their acting abilities. Even if the actors messed up a line, the audience couldn’t tell.

The play marveled at life’s disappointments and the hardness of love, and delivered a quick yet not totally typical ending. The performance demonstrated that life doesn’t always have a happy ending, the main character doesn’t always get the girl and people don’t always find what they are looking for. It was not the normal happily ever after that an audience expects in a fairytale, but that was the beauty of it. It told the truth of life and the unfairness of the people who live it. “Stupid F**cking Bird” managed to combine comedy, truth and life into this darker performance.