Show review

(I split this from previous post.)

Went to "Nine" and "The Long Road," Arouet at Eclectic Theatre.  "The Long Road," by Shelagh Stephenson is a fantastic script, even though I'm not a huge fan of summary monologues at the end of plays (the actual ending is the prisoner reading the letter from the woman whose son she killed, which helps, and much of this play is in monologue, each character addressing the audience.)  The play begins with the living son describing watching the random stabbing and death of his brother (by a girl strung out on drugs), the rest of the play is how the family deals with that in their own way (the father takes up running, and then when he blows out his knee, drinking; the mother writes a letter to the killer, decides she wants to meet her; the brother wants to be recognized as still being alive, and eventually joins the mother in the visits to the prison.)  Great cast, especially Eleanor Moseley as Mary (the mother), Jared Holloway-Thomas as Joe (the brother), and Abigail Grimstad as Emma (the killer.)  My only quibble with the show was the accents, it might make sense for the parents to have wildly different accents (Irish and British upper class?) say if they were from different places, but then Joe had a cockney accent which wasn't like either parent, so didn't really make sense (though he did it well.)  It was directed by Zandi Carlson, with assistant director, Mariajose Barrera.  It's the US premier of the play.  Sadly, only 14 people in the audience last night, which is a shame.  The sidewalks leading to the theatre are blocked by construction, the signage was poor, the street dark, and it was hard to tell if theatre was actually open, all of which might add to the lack of any walk-up sales.  I had a ticket, and I had to have someone wave me in because it didn't look open.

"Nine," by Jane Shepard, I'll give credit to Colleen Carey and Cynthia Geary (Woman 1 and Woman 2, respectively) for wanting to do challenging work and making that happen.  Had a very Beckett  (as well as Jose Rivera, but more for the subject and the way it plays on stage) feel to me, heightened by the fact that it opens with the actors walking onstage, putting the chains on themselves, and then going to a blackout to begin.  Almost makes it more metaphorical (they put the chains on themselves, what would that mean, then?)  And since I haven't read the script, I was left wondering if that was in the play (which changes the meaning for me) or a director's choice (Paul Budraitis), or the constraints of the space (there was no stage curtain in the theatre, and the set for "The Long Road" was behind a make-shift non-quite-opaque curtain.) They are being held captive, and tortured, outside of the room, and chained apart from each other.  Opens with Woman 1 checking on the condition of Woman 2 who is lying, in pain, on the floor, barely moving, presumably after an interrogation and/or beating, and ends with the opposite, and with Woman 1 slowly fading to death.  I preferred each actor for different aspects, Geary had power and "beauty" in her quiet and writhing movements on the floor; and Carey, when she just let loose and let herself shout finally.  I could feel her strength and power fully embodied, she was completely engaged in it.  Also, the way she faded after her interrogation was beautifully done.  Still, during the back and forth dialogue, in the games they play to stay alive, to stave off fear, I had trouble staying engaged, and I wanted to.  I suppose sometimes the immediacy, the connection between them waned, I wanted more of it. (And this was an early performance, which a lot of the ones I see are; it will evolve as the run continues.)