What I liked
This play opens with a lighthearted (and seemingly-silly) sequence that tees up the protagonist’s (twisted?) (or is she just play-acting?) (or is she mentally unbalanced?) stream-of-consciousness organizing of her “parlour” prior to the visit of her sister and the sister’s new beau. While the comedic foundation of the play is beautifully established in this scene, it’s a tone that gradually-but-inevitably shifts to something way way way way more disturbing, unexpected, and entertaining. The writing and directing of this jewel of a play are both stunning; the actors absolutely kill it in this production. (Parenthetically, I also liked how the author of this play is a fellow Hoosier — she is the real deal, and I am not kidding around when I make the statement.)
What I didn't like
Apparently my wife and I caught the “final Fringe 2024 performance” of this play. It would be great if the show could be re-mounted somewhere else (but with this identical cast), for the benefit of people who (uniformed, alas) didn’t have a chance to see this sterling production.
My overall impression
This play is dynamite! Like a shotgun wedding of Anthony Shaffer’s SLEUTH and one of Edward Albee’s latter-day absurdist parables, PARLOUR GAMES is a deep-dive into the dynamics of a psychologically-bent family legacy, and its 55-minute running time reps a perfect power-to-weight ratio (vis-a-vis its effectiveness for an audience).
