What I liked
See previous answer.
What I didn't like
I wouldn’t have said no to a free shot of dark rum at the door, but other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing.
My overall impression
Stefan Marks’s “My One Woman Show” gets you comfortable, then shares the pain, and then releases you from it. (Since Marks is confronting real pain, one hopes that the play also releases him from that pain too.)
The premise of the play is that he has failed as yet to come up with a one-person show, and he is bringing the audience into the difficulty of making one. He is especially bedeviled by creating a beginning. He doesn’t seem to be sure what he wants to say, or how to say it. Marks takes us with him through the false starts, the doubts, and the exploration and testing of ideas, speaking to the audience, telling us a story while living out the story at the same time. He is discovering what he wants to say and how to say it in real time.
Marks is marvelously engaging, so this dramatized creative exploration of his is effortless for the audience. His wit, warmth, and humanity shine throughout. When he does reach the heart of what he wants to say, the play takes a surprising and moving turn, one that is earned and powerful.
If all that we can do with suffering is somehow to make something good out of it and then share that with others, then that is what Marks has done. “My One Woman Show” embodies the proverb, “A burden shared is half a burden; a joy shared is twice a joy.”
