Firebelly Productions

Mailing address:
4908 North 17th Street
Arlington, VA 22207
703-409-2372

June 26 - July 20, 2008
A Body of Water
Reviewed June 29 by Brad Hathaway

Running time 1:40 - one intermission
A fascinating situation without a resolution
 

Click here to buy the script

Lee Blessing is a master at selecting fascinating situations to dramatize. He is also a master at writing sharp dialogue that delivers plot information in a natural and unforced way while illuminating characteristics in the personalities of the people involved. Here, his effort is given fine performances under the impressive direction of Michael Ryan Fernandez making his professional directorial debut. As a result of the quality of the performances and the intelligent progression of the staging, the show holds the audience's interest through all of the first act and most of the second. But then Blessing's script lets the artistic team down, which lets the audience down too. Still, the concept is so intriguing that you may remember the intellectual exercise of trying to make sense of the dilemma facing the protagonists, and the pleasure of watching them struggle with that dilemma long after you've forgotten the brief sense of disappointment that accompanies the final ten minutes or so of the actual performance.

Storyline: A man and a woman have awakened in a bed in a house in the woods surrounded by a body of water. They don't know who they are. They don't know what they are doing there. They don't even know if the robes in the closet are theirs. Are they man and wife? Is this their home? What has happened to them? Into the scene comes a younger woman who seems to know all. Is she their daughter? Is she their nurse? Is she their lawyer? Do they need a nurse?  Do they need a lawyer?

Among his twenty-odd plays, we have seen and raved about productions of such marvelous works as Thief River, Independence, Eleemosynary and Two Rooms as well as Flag Day which is actually two one-act plays with fascinating set ups. (Lets not talk about Whores which was such a disappointment a few years ago.) So it could be argued that we have a soft spot in our hearts for his work. What we have, however, is a soft spot for the pleasure you get from seeing a fascinating concept well used - and that is what is missing here. The concept is full of potential and the development is all together absorbing, but its failure to resolve itself at the end is incredibly frustrating. It is like a "whodunit?" that ends as a "whoknows?" Ambiguity has its place in drama, of course, but it must be used appropriately. This play feels almost as if the author lost interest before he completed the project and so he just stopped. It is a case of satisfaction interuptus, which is unfortunate given all the enjoyment that precede the final moments.

The enjoyment comes not only from Blessing's situation, characterization and dialogue, but from fine performances by Patricia Foreman and John Collins as the confused couple, as well as from Tori Miller as the younger woman who guides them through the exploration of their circumstances. Collins and Foreman infuse their performances with tiny traits that make their personalities whole even if their characters aren't supposed to have any memory of how their fears or favorites evolved in the past. There is an initial tentativeness that is so appropriate for mature adults encountering such an unsettling situation as finding themselves without the comfortable knowledge of their pasts. That tentativeness gives way to frustration and apprehension in measured doses. Miller has the even greater challenge, a part that is intentionally ambiguous. Miller handles it nicely as she drops pieces of information into conversations with the couple which they react to with a combination of ravenous hunger for any hint of their pasts and a fear that those pasts may be frighteningly at odds with the standards they hope they have maintained through their lives.

The small playing space of the black box at Theatre on the Run is decked out with hanging muslin sheets painted with different views of the woods and water that surround the house that is so unfamiliar to the couple. The mood of the piece is supplemented nicely by original incidental music by Michael Good who, like the director, is making his professional debut with this production. Firebelly consistently finds new talent and gives them a chance to shine.

Written by Lee Blessing. Directed by Michael Ryan Fernandez. Design: Andrew J. Berry (set) Michael Good (original incidental music) Nick Ryckert (lights)  Jayrol San Jose (photography) Kathi Gollwitzer (stage manager). Cast John Collins, Patricia Foreman, Tori Miller.