Sunday night I stopped by the Ark Theater on La Cienega Boulevard to see "Capsized Flotsam" written by (and starring) Donaco Smyth. The story centers around a novelist suffering writer's block who discovers a way to take a fantastical journey to a library that holds every book that has been written and EVERY book that will be written. He discovers a novel that he has written in the future and decides to memorize it and return to his house and write down what he remembers.

Advertised as an Edwardian comedy a la Oscar Wilde, I've suffered my own writer's block on blogging about it. Some parts of the show lived up to its billing -- especially the Alice-in-Wonderland-style library scenes, but much of it felt like a slog. And though I admire Smyth's ability as a playwright, I thought he was terribly miscast (by himself, no doubt) in the lead role.

I don't like to rain on other's well-intentioned parades, but if you bill yourself as being as talented as Oscar Wilde then you should be prepared to take some criticism.