Strap-On

What I liked

The staging, performance, writing and technical level of difficulty of this fascinating piece of theatre cannot be oversold. Director Jeff Mills has devised with his young cast a disturbing, funny, real, raw, touching and edgy piece of storytelling. The two actresses, both in their early twenties, assay 4 rolrs each including the defendant and plaintiff, themselves, jurists and state prosecutors/defending barristers. They deftly define their stories with subtle physical shifts, appropriate accents, energy and pure clarity. With two chairs, a table, the minimum of props and the eponymous Strap On dildo, they take on this complicated moral and ethical puzzle. The questions raised and multiple versions of the story told create a charming disconfort with the audience. Its a shame that at the preview I saw, the audience was only double the numbers onstage. This show deserves a bigger audience. And we deserve more shows of this caliber.

What I didn't like

Some of the lighting obscured the actual storytelling. As a fringe audience, we know multiple shows share a light plot but the lighting from the booth was brighter than the stage, at times. This could be a flaw if the venues, however, not an artistic misstep. Some of the transitions could have been sharper but that will come with time as I believe we were their first time in front of an audience.

My overall impression

Simply elegant, heart-wrenching, moment-to-moment, unsentimental theatre. Remarkable boldness from these young actresses and unusually assured staging from this director who brought La la la Strada to The Fringe, last year. Bravo!