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Peer Reviews The Most Beautiful Lullaby You’ve Ever Heard by Greg Romero
Entire contents are copyright © 2007, Deborah Ward. All rights reserved.
Specific Gravity Ensemble is known city-wide for its strange and offbeat creations, and The Most Beautiful Lullaby fits the reputation. The play is simply set: three chairs, soft light, male and female seated, the coolness of the concrete floor rising beneath our feet. As the narrator, played by Julia Leist, fills us in on the setting, the Man (Christopher Shiner) and Woman (Jennifer Poliskie) set us on an adventure of the complicated human mind.
The play is pre-empted by the play program, which contains the instructions on how to fold the program into a paper hat and then turn the hat into a boat. When the narrator awakens the man and woman, they set the boat afloat from the edge of the lake of possibilities. The narrator takes us from the edge of the water to the bar, their apartment and a boat. Narrator: "The man and the woman sit in the bar drinking their beer." Man: "Hi." Woman: "Hi." Man: "Do you come here often?" Woman: "Yeah, I’m a regular." Man: "You're irregular??" Woman: "No. I’m a regular." Change of scene.
Various topics from molestation to beastiality are mentioned but not explored. Greg Romero takes a stab at cutting-edge theatre but falls short by not exploring the topics in depth. Just the mere mention of controversial topics is non-transforming. The initial intrigue and mood set by the lighting is lost less than halfway through the one-hour performance, due to the almost irritating repetition of forceful nasal inhalation of the Man and Woman at every change of setting (which occurs at least every two minutes). Poliskie’s (Woman) and Shiner’s (Man) performance evokes applause in spite of the play’s disappointment.
The Most Beautiful Lullaby You've Ever Heard September 21 - October 1, 2007
Posted October 1, 2007
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