My overall impression
For me the evening at Nostalgium was about the truly lovely acting by Tracy Dillon as Sandra. Director/Producer Alex Scott coaxed a riveting performance out of Dillon. Reminding me of a young and very pretty Ellen Barkin, Dillon, with her acute sadness and yearning, takes us deep into an actual and not-well-known world – a sadly real subculture of people who wish to live as amputees – some of whom succeed through mortifyingly horrific means. Matthew Benyo’s play goes a number of places, but the most interesting one is into the disturbing world of body dysmorphia. There is a lot that is unclear on this 90 minute two-person journey, the obscurity aided by the effects on the characters of a bong-with-a-goldfish. There are drugs, both soft and hard, a tepidly poetic foil to Ms. Dillon, Luke Scroggins, their philosophical whirligigs, memories, and an ambiguous relationship, and the final scene which is dark and shocking. Alex Scott took on a difficult task with this play, and brought in a nearly-full-house who, to my eye, looked enthralled.
