alibi_shop (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alibi_shop) wrote2019-02-03 03:26 pm
alibi_shop) wrote2019-02-03 03:26 pm
Stage: Bunker
Bunker, written by & starring Olivia Kingsley, directed by Willie Caldwell - seen on 1/31/19 at PianoFight
(disclaimer: I slightly know some of these people)
This isn't literally a solo show, but like many solo shows it's driven more by the actor's immersion in a distinctive character than by the story, and it's definitely a success in that regard; if I had to guess I'd say the author has had this person on her mind for quite a while. Deedee Darling is sort of a cross between Gwyneth Paltrow, Norma Desmond, and Howard Hughes: famous for something or other that's long forgotten, but now living off of licensing and endorsement deals, she swans around in a muumuu and an absurd Mid-Atlantic accent, eats peanut butter off her hand, and dictates statements about how she's decided to live in an underground bunker from now on. I'd only seen Kingsley in the Neo-Futurists, whose plays deliberately don't involve portraying any specific characters, so I just knew she was expressive but this is a whole other thing; she completely disappears into the role, simultaneously projecting insane self-regard, amiable klutziness, and creeping terror. She's hilarious and I would gladly just watch Deedee go about her daily routine for hours.
There is a story, though. The idea of seclusion from the craziness of the world (Deedee quotes Walden but hasn't read it) is immediately undermined by the fact that she can't stay off the phone: family and business connections keep intruding in the form of characters played on live video by Tonya Narvaez, Caldwell, and Molly Armstrong, as well as an automated voice that delivers increasingly funny threats about her legal problems, and that's how we learn a bit at a time that Deedee does have more specific motivations for bunkerizing herself than just wanting to get away from it all. She also has a box of cassette tapes containing evidence of a real human connection of some kind in her past. These things create some suspense and have the potential to complicate the character in interesting ways, but they come in too late for that to really happen, and the confrontation at the end feels a little arbitrary.
The other characters are more one-note, but the cast does well with them, and it's directed with a brisk energy even during the more meditative sections. The minimal production design, even if it's largely dictated by having no money, is exactly right anyway: this is the kind of person who would spend all her money on a concrete bunker but stock it only with (or only pay attention to) one plant, three books, some peanut butter, some paper, a phone and a baseball bat. I'm still not sure Bunker holds together as a play, but as a thing that happened in front of me, it's really well written and well performed and I like it a lot.
(disclaimer: I slightly know some of these people)
This isn't literally a solo show, but like many solo shows it's driven more by the actor's immersion in a distinctive character than by the story, and it's definitely a success in that regard; if I had to guess I'd say the author has had this person on her mind for quite a while. Deedee Darling is sort of a cross between Gwyneth Paltrow, Norma Desmond, and Howard Hughes: famous for something or other that's long forgotten, but now living off of licensing and endorsement deals, she swans around in a muumuu and an absurd Mid-Atlantic accent, eats peanut butter off her hand, and dictates statements about how she's decided to live in an underground bunker from now on. I'd only seen Kingsley in the Neo-Futurists, whose plays deliberately don't involve portraying any specific characters, so I just knew she was expressive but this is a whole other thing; she completely disappears into the role, simultaneously projecting insane self-regard, amiable klutziness, and creeping terror. She's hilarious and I would gladly just watch Deedee go about her daily routine for hours.
There is a story, though. The idea of seclusion from the craziness of the world (Deedee quotes Walden but hasn't read it) is immediately undermined by the fact that she can't stay off the phone: family and business connections keep intruding in the form of characters played on live video by Tonya Narvaez, Caldwell, and Molly Armstrong, as well as an automated voice that delivers increasingly funny threats about her legal problems, and that's how we learn a bit at a time that Deedee does have more specific motivations for bunkerizing herself than just wanting to get away from it all. She also has a box of cassette tapes containing evidence of a real human connection of some kind in her past. These things create some suspense and have the potential to complicate the character in interesting ways, but they come in too late for that to really happen, and the confrontation at the end feels a little arbitrary.
The other characters are more one-note, but the cast does well with them, and it's directed with a brisk energy even during the more meditative sections. The minimal production design, even if it's largely dictated by having no money, is exactly right anyway: this is the kind of person who would spend all her money on a concrete bunker but stock it only with (or only pay attention to) one plant, three books, some peanut butter, some paper, a phone and a baseball bat. I'm still not sure Bunker holds together as a play, but as a thing that happened in front of me, it's really well written and well performed and I like it a lot.