The Flu Season

The Flu Season by playwright Will Eno is neither about the flu nor a season. Or it could be about a season, if winter or spring are seasons. Or it could be about the flu if the flu was about being ill and what happens when you get better. Or you don’t. Or if the script was not about the plot, but rather about a playwright’s script decisions. Or if the play wasn’t about the play, but about a man and a woman and a hospital and a nurse and a doctor and a spoken prologue and epilogue.

So goes Eno’s play, a fascinating comedic drama filled with non sequiturs, wandering plotlines, interesting characters, Samuel Beckett-like prose, contortions and experiments in the written word.

Once you’re aware that the structure and language of The Flu Season aren’t going to follow the norm, you can let the story, characters and words flow where they will and appreciate the art of a skilled playwright playing with plot and prose.

Under the direction of the ever-adept director Maggie Adair Upton, Ovation Stage takes on this quirky play that is both about a mental institution where the staff is just as disturbed as the patients, and about a playwright’s struggle as portrayed by two intruding narrators named Prologue and Epilogue. On the small, stark stage, the six-member talented cast works in skillful sync to present this challenging and ultimately satisfying play. It’s a play about a play about a flu and a season—about all these aspects and none of them at the same time.