←Recommendations of The Play of Excessive Exposition, Stereotypical Characters, and Cliches

A divine, delightful short play that proves it's not exposition that's boring, it's just the delivery. Radtke's characters deliver their cliches and stereotypes with deft aplomb, and it's absolutely hilarious from beginning to end. I saw a reading of this piece and was quite thankful to have been on the other end of a zoom call, because had I been seeing it live, my cackling would most definitely have disturbed the actors. A surefire hit for any little festival.

A hoot of a play that proves why playwrights love exposition so much: because it opens up so many new avenues and interesting topics! Over-doing exposition is usually the death-knell to most short plays, but here Neil Ratke offers exposition on exposition, spilling out of every expository lines that leads to far more exposition, that eventually the fault becomes a strength, unwinding a story of such ridiculous depth but you can't help but surrender. Good stuff.

This play is a blast, and it even includes discussion of a blast! Fantastic comedy about hackneyed dramatic writing, with inclusion of Star Wars references because, of course it does. I envy the actors who will play these characters in upcoming one-act festivals! Hilarious!

What a wonderfully wacko piece of writing with a grand finale twist! This isn't just a play that will tickle an audience funny bone. This is a real super teaching tool on well ... excessive exposition, stereotypical characters and cliches! Produce!

A clever look at the dangers that some playwrights fall into when writing. It is such a fun and funny piece that will make you smile!

“Why is Leah still frozen?” “Because the playwright can’t write female characters.” And so the play continues, delivering an entree of horrible coincidences, bad female dialogue, and cliches that would induce labor in some of the population. The play gives us - in style - what is promised. And it couldn’t be more fun for the actors and audience.

This play delivers exactly what it promises with the title (in what I think is a good way).

I think the best part of the play is that Radtke is not afraid to make fun of himself. The play's meta-theatricality could come off as pretentious, but he always gives room for the audience to laugh at him as well as with him, making it feel like everyone is on an equal playing field.

A delightful piece that I'm sure would be fun to see staged.

Stoppardian in its convoluted-ness (and I mean that in the best way possible), this play is a highly amusing satire of... well, excessive exposition, stereotypical characters, and cliches. Fun to a fault, actors and audiences should have a blast with this comedy.

Neil Radtke pulls out all the theatrical stops in this short play, starting with silly accents and a parody of crime investigation dramas. He piles on ridiculous -- yet biting -- expository monologues, meta-theater recognition and self-deprecating humor, then continues to build and expand the comedy until it reaches a climax that parodies shocking twist endings in modern entertainment ... and the audience is completely in on the fun from the first line. A comic gem.

This short story is long on satire, with a lot of comedic targets (including bad dialog, 4th-wall breaking, an out-of-nowhere twist, and some funny pop culture references) expertly skewered. And as a Star Wars fan, I got a special kick out of some clever in-jokes about a galaxy far, far away. A joy to read, and I'm certain it will be even more fun to watch!