My overall impression
I am not a big fan of the 1-person genre in general, so when a friend asked me to come to Phoebe Ventouras’ performance I was reluctant. I often feel like I’ve somehow stumbled into someone else’s self-indulgent, extra-long therapy session at these things. Yikes.
But that was not the case at all on Friday night! To my delight, Ventouras was genuinely smart, funny and full of surprises. Her staid exterior worked wickedly well with the naughtier bits, and the non-verbal portions were not only refreshing (I’m taking dance lessons from her!) but moved the story forward and revealed bigger emotional truths just as well as the spoken portions.
She’s also one of those actors who has a genuinely interesting face, she’s more than pretty; my eyes were curious to see what she’d do next the entire time.
I heartily recommend this show— in a sea of ‘eeeech’, she’s a total ‘ahhhhh’!
