Brendan Kwan 

23 September, 2024

My day started off with me eating a small, modest breakfast sandwich. I brushed my teeth, got dressed, and went to the ferry. I met up with my friends at Empire Outlets and we took the ferry with our other classmates. When we arrived in Manhattan, I second guessed myself and missed the train with everybody in it, prompting me to take the next train that came around five minutes after. When I got off the train, I attempted to use Google Maps to get to the theater, but it caused me to run for twenty minutes in the wrong direction. I then asked a kind gentleman for directions and he told me where to go and I finally arrived at the theater after fifteen strenuous minutes. The play consisted of 2 main characters: Paul and Katie. Katie was a waitress and Paul was an ex-alcoholic. Paul talks about his obsession with Sophia Loren and Italian tape recordings. Paul wanted Katie to poison him. Katie did not want to poison him, because she would go to jail for murder. Both characters went through tough times, Paul being an ex-alcoholic and Katie moving and dodging twenty seven voicemail messages. They hugged and she went to find her mystery voicemail man. The play was pretty good, but to be honest, it did not feel short at all. The seconds felt like minutes and the minutes felt like hours, but I think that was partially due to the fact that I tired myself out while trying to get to the theater. Overall, I really liked the set of the play and it was a great first play to watch.

The Counter is the first ever show I have been to, and to be frank, I walked in there with the expectation of it will be boring and I won’t really care or be affected by the show. I ended up being entirely wrong, I actually really enjoyed the show and was amazed how the director was able send such a strong message using just one set and only 3 actors.

The simplicity of the coffee shop was perfect fitting for the simplicity of Katy. She says how she is content with having a front porch, watching Netflix, and going on walks. However, at the end she ends up opening up the truth of what she really wants in life, but does her inability to have kids due to getting her ovaries taken out is holding her back, and keeping her in a shell. After she opens up to Paul, she ends up getting over her issue, maybe not completely, but over it enough to go talk to her ex situationship.

Paul is an extremely troubled character who at first seemed like a simple man, who just enjoys his morning coffee, but eventually opens up to Katy expressing how miserable in life is, and how every day he is living such a boring life and already knows what happens. He does not state he is depressed, but he says that he wants to die at a random time within the next 2 months so he will be taken by surprised when he dies. This is clearly a sign of depression, but he claims he is not depressed and does not need help. Paul ends up showing some positive signs of his mental health towards the end as he gets excited when he sees such an impact he’d had on Katy and how she surprised him by going to hangout with her ex.

The relationship between Katy and Paul starts off rocky, as Katy is a bit weary about it and is reluctant to say yes to telling secrets and giving each other tough talks, but these tough talks end up saving each other as the tough talks got Katy to hangout with her ex and got Paul to rekindle his relationship with the doctor. This show portrays the beauty of friendship and how important it is to have a friend to talk to and it will be life changing.

All in all, my first experience with a show was very present and I hope to see one again soon, maybe a bigger show with more sets and actors.

The Counter does a fantastic job of posing friendship as the answer to the question of why live. The world is lonely, tragic and even boring, but friendship is life-affirming and agentic.

First, The Counter centers the viewer in a familiar setting to our own. Although in a rural town that differs from Staten Island’s suburban atmosphere, it is also an atomized world. Katie watches Netflix and goes on walks on her own. Life’s highlights are the movies and the grand opening of the new Whole Foods. The best part of Paul’s day is his conversation with the woman who serves him his morning coffee before a deep relationship even develops between them. It is telling that the characters are so removed from social institutions that their close relationships are with those who facilitate their consumption. That is because too often in the modern world, one’s identity is not built by human connection but by isolated consumption, whether of films or morning coffee. One might share their streaming site passwords with others, but the streaming itself is a secluded endeavor. It is simply not possible to share consumption, and so life remains solitary.

Friendship offers something substantive to share: one’s life. A true friend is the kind Paul describes towards the beginning of the play. A friend is a person who can be relied on and who can help one deal with life’s problems. This cliche definition is revealed to have tremendous utility in explaining the value of friendship. As Paul and Katie share their secrets with each other like some kind of teenage party game, they end up becoming each other’s backbones in their respective struggles trying to escape their lives. Paul had judged Katie for leaving her city life behind and Katie Paul’s adultery and suicidal ideation. However, they came to empathize with one another and comprehend why they each felt so desperate for an escape hatch. Furthermore, the play demonstrates that sharing lives involves not merely sympathetic spectating, but actively participating in each other’s lives. For instance, Katie encourages Paul to learn Italian and pursue his forbidden love. Additionally, the revelation of Katie’s hysterectomy pulls Paul off the edge because each was a stakeholder in the story of the other. However, the unparalleled instance which profoundly conveys that friendship entails being contributors to one another’s lives is when an exhilarated Paul pushes Katie to reunite with the guy who friendzoned her. He grabs her by the shoulders and effectively wills her out of the door of the cafe to go meet him. Katie trusts Paul because he has become her pillar, just as she has become his. The play’s ending thus imparts that the friendship bond-the sharing of a life-is not only one of mutual confidants and advisors, but active partners who help one another be the best versions of themselves.

Second, friendship is posited as a remedy for life’s tragic nature. The Counter claims life is tragic because of its inevitable calamities. This is indicated by Paul’s description of the powerlessness he feels in fending off aging and the grief which remains from the deaths of his close family members. As a result of this grim perspective, Paul views control over his own death as the only area where he can exert some measure of autonomy. In correspondence with this, Katie found herself paralyzed, in her case by illness and unforeseeable relationship issues. She seeks to control her own destiny by exercising her freedom to escape. Escape is conceived of as the one choice people are left with during an unmanageable catastrophe. Yet, escape is an anti-social choice. It is clear how that is true of suicide. The extreme ghosting Katie engages in-the moving seven hours away kind of ghosting-is also an attempt to break loose from social connection. Although she is fleeing the discomfort that comes with being friendzoned, a fundamental part of relationships is that they don’t always turn out how one expects.There is another person involved after all. Thus, Katie’s ghosting is an escape from discomfiture which is intrinsic to mutual social connection. 

As opposed to escape’s disengagement from others, friendship rectifies a part of life’s pains in one simple sense because it provides a shoulder to cry on. Paul details how he is tired of hearing shallow remarks of comfort as he walks in the street. He despises Peg’s pity. Pity is the surface-level sadness one expresses at the misfortune of another. True friendship means empathy, which is suffering with another person-not expressing heartache at another’s pain in a way which makes them feel inferior. For instance, a friend’s empathy is how Katie divulges her secret illness history. She displays that she feels compelled enough by the pain of Paul’s story to share her own with him.

A second more complex way that friendship resolves the inherent tragedy of life is that it provides a measure of dignity. Paul hates pity because it robs him of his self-respect. Friendship not only provides compassion which doesn’t demean a person, but is a mechanism for autonomy, which produces pride. Unlike the great careers and life partners Paul had waited for, Paul consciously chooses to open himself up and court the friendship of Katie. He makes a move at the counter and admits he isn’t happy being an acquaintance. Friendship cannot be accomplished by idleness. It requires people to break the ice and continually reinvest their energy into caring about one another. A true friendship is something which requires taking responsibility and making a continuous commitment to prioritize the relationship. Paul is a little shocked that Katie is upset about his being sick for a day. However, he shouldn’t be. She is his friend and in being such, had taken on the mantle of overseeing his well-being. One lesson of Paul and Katie’s relationship is that the fundamental ennobling choice of one’s life is whether one takes a deep interest in the lives of the people around them. 

Third, The Counter asserts that friendship infuses life with novelty. This is because people get bored of themselves. On one occasion, Paul laments that he has gotten the gist of life’s monotonous routine. On another, he says that if he doesn’t sleep, he just talks to himself for hours. Arguably, Paul finds life dull because nearly all of his life is spent talking to himself. His life is only kept stimulating because he has another person in Katie-whose mind he does not have access to-with whom to share his thoughts. Even Paul’s hobby of learning Italian is intrinsically communicative. Since he is not going to Italy, the value he gains from the pastime comes from speaking to Katie in Italian. 

Friendship is gripping because there is usually always something to learn about one’s friend. Even when one thinks they have learned it all, built-in to human relations is that two minds cannot see each other’s thoughts. As long as there is no telepathy, human beings will be forced to face one unknown, which is the other. The whole reason why Paul and Katie-why any human beings for that matter-can have a back and forth dialogue where they have “fights” and not gauge each other’s responses is because they are of separate minds. This trait gives friendships dynamism, which comes with both instability and innovation. Paul is looking for “surprise” which is why he would like Katie to decide when to kill him. He can’t access the thought process of a friend and as a result, Katie being given discretion means he wouldn’t know when his death is coming. Paul was banking on the precariousness of friendship. Sometimes people freak out and overreact to things. If Katie were to kill him, it would be because she had lost her mind. As Paul says, people do that on occasion. Instead, Paul discovers that friendship can produce an optimistic form of surprise-the unexpected progress of a friend. At the end of the play, Katie’s situationship comes to meet her in town. Paul is enlivened by the new developments in her relationship and the potential for her to not only connect with a great guy but repair what has broken her for years. Katie declares this series of events the “surprise” Paul had been looking for. That is because friendship brings constant newness. Friendship provides the potential for one’s companion to unpredictably alter their circumstances and thought processes. Personal change is premeditated, but constructive change in a friend’s life is something one only catches glimpses of when it is shared with them. Paul got in on the ground floor of bettering a friend’s life, which is the exact kind of new modulation he ached for.

One could come away from The Counter feeling depressed. The play explores the idea that all people are in a sense waiting for the aging process and death to rob them of everything they ever had or loved. In fact, it is helpful to conceive of life as waiting in a waiting room. There is nothing more soulless than that. One may skim through magazines, but they provide nothing of substance. Additionally, the strangers one sits across from may curl their lips into a semi-smile for a moment but they will immediately retreat into their own distant world. To top it all off, one is impotent in speeding up what feels like an endless process. The Counter asks one to imagine that a close friend has walked into this waiting room. The atmosphere changes completely. In addition to fixing the loneliness of not having someone to delay life with, the presence of a buddy actually ends the eventless interlude. First, speaking with a friend ends the tyranny of the staff who usher in the next appointment. One partakes actively in friendship rather than being idle and letting the outside world dictate one’s “waiting room” experience. This agency is paramount to a joyful life. Additionally, whereas one had lacked spirit, one gains seemingly limitless energy. This is because a person is no longer imprisoned with their own thoughts. Instead, one has surprises at their fingertips in the form of hearing about their friend’s experiences and living through this new experience together. This is how a single friend can transform the gray paint on the walls of the doctor’s office waiting room into a vibrant rainbow. The Counter expresses that friendship makes life worth living because it stops the lonely, feebling and insipid waiting in its tracks. Katie was Paul’s waitress. By the end of the show, she is his friend.

The trip to the theatre was a long and interesting one. The theatre being located right off of times square made it seem more prestigious.

I felt that the play took a while to get me interested, as the first half seemed very repetitive. I did find it cool how they utilized the lights to make a day and night cycle. The set design was also really cool, especially considering it took place in one small set. I liked the use of the frosted window as a way to show a character’s exit. I think I also felt a little bored with the idea of there being only two characters for the majority of the play. It made it seem like each part was extremely drawn out.

In terms of story, I did not get most of the jokes and saw it as a sadder play. I think the acting was really good especially when the male actor recounted his experience taking care of his dying family members. I thought that the inclusion of his affair was a little sudden, and was surprised it was a major plot point. It was still very emotional, and I think it was the best acted part of the play. I think the ending being ambiguous was a little confusing, since the story felt like it was just starting to ramp up. The sudden ending had me thinking that there would be a continuation and that the ending was not finished yet.

I think I liked Paul’s character better than Katie. I felt that she switched up her opinion on two major events way too quickly, with no explanation. At first, she absolutely refused to poison Paul, yet as the story went on, she seems more open to doing so without reason. Secondly, she criticizes Paul for his affair with the doctor initially, yet she later supports him in trying to rekindle the relationship due to them having chemistry. The sudden change of heart was pretty confusing and made her character a little unlikable.

Overall, I think the play was an interesting experience and I definitely enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I think this play could have some improvements, especially with the ending, but overall, it was a great experience to go with friends.

On Sunday afternoon, I endured a traffic-filled trip into Manhattan to attend an Off-Broadway performance of The Counter at the Roundabout Theatre. I was unsure of what to expect from this play, as I had only previewed a short synopsis about its plot to get a general understanding about what I would be watching. I knew that it would be tackling heavy topics such as suicide, so I was prepared for this aspect. However, there were various characteristics of the show that surprised me.

When I took my seat in the theatre, I opened my Playbill to skim through it. I thought it was interesting that there were only three members of the cast that would be taking the stage. This contrasts my previous experience in attending theater productions because I am used to seeing large casts and ensembles perform with one another. I believe that the reason that the cast is so small is to help maintain the focus of the play. If there were more characters in the play, our protagonists, Paul and Katie, may not have been fully developed to the extent that they are at the conclusion of the show.  Providing backstory and emphasizing the manner of interaction between these two characters is crucial to conveying the story as a whole, and thus would have been less impactful if overcomplicated with unnecessary side characters. It may be arguable that Peg is a side character, but it is evident that her role in the play was critical, for she was able to reveal aspects of Paul’s life to Katie that he would not have been willing to share otherwise. This allows us to contextualize his current state of mind to further understand his choices.

Another feature of the show that surprised me was its simplistic set design. I personally believe that set curators and designers can be considered artists because they are responsible for creating visuals that lend themselves to the story, without revealing too much information. At some shows that I have attended in the past, there are frequent or periodic changes in scenery. I thought it was interesting that the set remained the same for the duration of the play, and I feel that this is intentional so that the viewers understand that our characters are the ones moving the story along, rather than them being moved. I did enjoy how the lighting would change to represent night and morning, which would signify a new day.

I thought that the dialogue itself was emotional and at times difficult to listen to. Both Paul and Katie had endured troublesome events in their lives. However, Katie chooses to handle her trauma by running away from it and refusing to / putting off confronting it, when in reality that is an important step to healing. In my opinion, one of the most impactful moments of the show is when Katie reveals to Paul that she had to have surgery due to medical complications and can no longer have children. You can hear the frustration and anguish in the actress’s performance. I feel that this signified how we as people do not always know what others have experienced, as this was triggered by Paul saying that she does not know how to take care of someone. We also learn that Paul’s brother and mother passed away, and he feels that they were the only people who were capable of truly loving him. Both Katie and Paul’s hardships provoke strong emotion in viewers and help us to gain insight into their actions.

However, I still have some questions about the ending of the play. I find it difficult for me to decipher whether the conclusion of the show is intentionally open-ended, with the purpose of provoking thought within the audience, or if I just happened to miss something; admittedly, I zoned out a few times due to the show’s somewhat repetitive nature at times. I am hoping that it is the former. If inviting viewers to interpret the final scene in a way that makes sense to them was the playwright’s intended goal, I feel that they accomplished this. While I was watching in the moment, I was anticipating Paul to begin exhibiting signs of a stroke, as I had somehow assumed that Katie decided to poison his coffee that morning. This is largely due to the long embrace that the characters share just moments before Katie exits the cafe. It felt like a final goodbye, so I was under the impression that she may have known he would pass away in a short amount of time. However, this did not occur, but that is not to say that this could not have occurred after the final scene concluded. This may have to do with playing into the pessimistic / optimistic nature of viewers, as pessimists may be more inclined to assume that Paul’s life would shortly come to an end, while optimists may assume that this long goodbye signifies an end to Katie’s temporary solution of running away from her issues, as she leaves to meet up with her estranged friend/lover who she has been ignoring for two years. This epitomizes how this play, much like any art, is subjective, and can hold various meanings to different people depending on the general outlook on life, which can be impacted by both their lived experiences and the world around them.