Open: 01/29/09- Close: 02/15/09
Raised In Captivity Reviewed for TheaterOnline.com By: Ashley Griffin
If Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean collaborated on a children’s-book version of Angels in America set in a dollhouse, you would have something akin to Red Fern Theatre Company’s production of Raised in Captivity, by Nicky Silver. The Red Fern Theatre Company is a company that you just want to like. Each play they produce is meant to address social issues ranging from local to global and is paired with a philanthropy whose work relates to the social themes of the play. A portion of ticket sales is donated to the designated philanthropy. There’s even a friendly atmosphere when you enter the lobby. Their latest offering, Raised in Captivity, is a dark comedy about twin siblings who deal with guilt, redemption, self-punishment, and revealed secrets following their mother’s untimely death. Add in a deranged masochistic therapist, a convicted felon, and a dentist who’s afraid of teeth, and you’ve got a pretty good picture. The actors are lovely. Josh Lefkowitz as the brother Sebastian comes across as a darker, more brooding (and certainly older) Charlie Brown, while Emilie Elizabeth Miller as his sister Bernadette makes a nice character arc. In the first scene you laugh at how truly crazy Bernadette is. By the end, you realize she’s actually the sanest person onstage. Jennifer Dorr White is fun, if slightly over the top as the deranged blind therapist Hillary, but she really shines in her dual role as Sebastian and Bernadette’s mother, Miranda. She showcases herself not so much in each character on their own, but in her transition between the two. Conversely, it was difficult to distinguish between Jose Joaquin Perez’s dual roles as convict Rodger and gigolo Dylan – though he did an excellent job, and Bryant Mason demonstrated the largest character arc as Bernadette’s husband, Kip. There were a couple of almost-dropped lines during the evening, but they were quickly recovered.
It was almost moving, but not quite. Venue: Shell Theater : 300 West 43rd Street |