What I liked
Each scene is painted vividly from memory often infused with laughter and wonder. The design elements are simple: a couch and little else.
As an adult, she met a teenaged boy from a country that opposed her Czech Republic during the war. The boy apologized to her on behalf of his people, giving her back, “her country, her dignity, and her tenderness.” What a testimony to the power of words.
How fortunate for us that Dagmar’s show is graced by her own life-affirming words. This reviewer felt honored to hear them.
What I didn't like
Excellent work.
My overall impression
Dagmar Stansova achieves something extraordinary in her one-woman show, Loose Underwear. In a sensitive yet entertaining way she explains how she found strength and happiness as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
In her youth, music was her refuge, as she sang Jewish songs and danced joyfully to James Brown records. She speaks of impassioned talks with her mother and enchanting memories of her grandmother. She recalls romantic relationships from her adult years, while the soft strains of an Al Green tune play for us in the theater. She remembers moments luminous with poetry, like the time a group of brightly-lit children resembled “a room of little suns.”
