Angela is opening up about her decision to abruptly leave HBO's experimental series The Rehearsal debuted in July. The show's ostensible premise has series creator Nathan Fielder staging elaborate rehearsals — complete with replica sets of actual buildings and settings — to help participants practice for real-life confrontations that they're nervous about.
Though the premiere episode of The Rehearsal follows this template and the show returns to it occasionally, the bulk of The Rehearsal follows a woman named Angela. A devout Christian who hopes to have a successful Etsy store, Angela s in episode 2 and tells Nathan that she wants to practice being a parent with the right father. Like so much of Fielder's previous work, such as Nahan for You, the plan quickly veers off-course, as Nathan steps in to play the role of the father to a rotating group of child actors. But, with one episode left before The Rehearsal finale, Angela told Nathan that she wanted to quit the experiment and exited the HBO show to return home.
In a video posted to a Facebook group, Angela spoke candidly about her experiences on The Rehearsal and why she decided to leave the series. Angela said, essentially, that the parenting experiment was becoming more about Nathan and less about her. Since they couldn't agree on how to proceed as far as raising their pretend child, Angela thought it would be best if she simply exited. Angela's comments, via Variety, are included below.
It had become more so Nathan’s rehearsal instead of mine. And since we didn’t agree about how to proceed, I’m not the boss, so it was time for me to go and let Nathan do his thing. I’m really looking forward to Episode 6 and seeing what he does with it and I will see you guys next time.
Nathan and Angela's final argument, which plays out in The Rehearsal episode 5, has to do with whether to raise their-would be child (named Adam) as a Christian or to allow elements of Judaism into Adam's upbringing. This would be a way to honor Fielder's Jewish faith, but Angela isn't up for it. The conflict provides the bulk of the episode's structure, and Angela makes a point of saying that she feels happy with how she was depicted and edited. She also said that she felt the show did a good job, overall.
The miscommunication between Nathan and Angela popped up in other aspects, as well. She doesn't take the practice seriously when Nathan isn't around, never displaying much parenting skills and even breaking character to talk to the child actors about their jobs. For his part, Nathan makes it hard to buy into the reality of the experiment when he's able to de-age their child at will.
It all adds up to making The Rehearsal one of the weirdest shows on television and one of the most uniquely funny. At one point, as part of a separate rehearsal, someone confronts Fielder about what the point of his cringe comedy is: is it to laugh at the participants like Angela? Is it a way for Fielder, a credited writer on the show, to work through his issues while also creating memorable entertainment? Is it just, as Nathan says, about responding to funny situations? Viewers will have different opinions, but it's impossible to deny that the HBO show makes a big impression.
Source: Variety