My overall impression
The Normal Child.
This review first appeared on ArtsBeatLA.com.
Review by Pauline Adamek.
A homegrown product of the fine LA-based theatre company, Open Fist, Philip Brocks’ play The Normal Child is an intriguing one.
As you enter the space, you are confronted by a startling sight – a woman sitting on a chair, each leg of the chair balanced upon the top of a whiskey flagon, each flagon precariously balanced upon a stack of books. Meanwhile, some ambient music by Brian Eno ethereally wafts through the dimly lit theatre, enhancing the surrealist spectacle.
Brocks’ two-hander play is set in rural Louisiana, with voices occasionally representing menacing Southern characters offstage. Brocks presents a dialogue between a habitually suicidal young woman, Claire (Amanda Weier), and her concerned older brother Terrance (Rob Nagle). Claire has just been discharged from the hospital to her abusive father’s home following yet another attempt to take her own life. Her brother wants to take her away with him, but Claire cannot be coaxed down from her eyrie – or can she?
Meanwhile, Claire tries to explain her unique gift that she considers the single factor that gives her joy: the gift of flight.
This is an unusual and elusive play, which at 45 minutes long, feels tender, satisfying and dreamlike.
