A gripping portrayal of a nightmare
New City Stage Company has dedicated its current season to Bucks County playwright William Mastrosimone, and its current production of Extremities - a play about victimization that gained notoriety in the '80s when it became a movie starring the post-Burning Bed Farrah Fawcett - is a bit like watching a nightmare coalesce onstage.
New City Stage Company has dedicated its current season to Bucks County playwright William Mastrosimone, and its current production of
Extremities
- a play about victimization that gained notoriety in the '80s when it became a movie starring the post-
Burning Bed
Farrah Fawcett - is a bit like watching a nightmare coalesce onstage.
In Extremities, a young woman paces her apartment, drinking tea, watering plants, getting stung by a bee, doing nothing at all remarkable aside from being alone. But as most women who reach adulthood eventually realize, the simple act of being alone can be fatal. If you're a woman, you must always assume someone is watching, and plan your life accordingly. And even when you do, according to Mastrosimone, if something goes wrong, people will still find a way to blame you.
Director William Roudebush, aided by sound designer Mark Jesse Swanson's mix of madly buzzing bees and booty-call hip-hop, builds the tension in Extremities' brutal opening scenes, and delivers (literally) forceful performances from UArts student Paul Felder as would-be rapist Raul, and Alana Gerlach as almost-victim Marjorie.
When the pair face off, and as their fortunes reverse, with Marjorie imprisoning Raul in her fireplace, both the play and the production are at their best. The action is so raw and the performances so committed that it's difficult to watch, but impossible not to.
However, once Marjorie's roommates begin arriving home, the script loses credibility. It doesn't help that Ginger Dayle's Terry seems to have landed in the wrong play, smirking inappropriately, unable to balance her character's comic and dramatic elements.
Kristyn Chouiniere is more successful as roomie Patricia, although she is hampered by Mastrosimone's ambivalence - one moment she is a caring social worker, the next a venomous turncoat, with hardly a segue in between.
Having written himself into a corner and finding himself as trapped as Raul, Mastrosimone is forced to write his way back out by having the women turn against one another. Ultimately, the play reaches its inevitable conclusion, and, for the most part, it's a satisfying one.
It's just unfortunate that the playwright chose this subject, one all too familiar to most of his audience, and blinked rather than staring it down with the same ferocity he expected from his actors.
Extremities
Written by William Mastrosimone, directed by William Roudebush, scenery by Dirk Durossette, costumes by Katelin Walsko, sound by Mark Jesse Swanson, lighting by Shon Causer.
Cast: Alana Gerlach (Marjorie), Paul Felder (Raul), Ginger Dayle (Terry), Kristyn Chouiniere (Patricia).
Playing at: Mum Puppettheatre, 115 Arch St. Through Jan. 20. Tickets: $16-$22. Information: 215-563-7500 or www.NewCityStage.org.
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