A "Body" of Words
For those of you who don't know, Adam Rapp is an award-winning author - and rightly so. I can state that opinion confidently now as I have seen his most recent work, The Edge of Our Bodies, at the Guthrie. Much to the credit of the author, director (Benjamin McGovern) and actress (Ali Rose Dachis), I can honestly say that this is the first Dowling Studio production I have seen that has kept me engaged for its entirety.
Now, keep in mind that the majority of this performance is Dachis' character Bernadette reading from her diary, recounting a trip taken to New York City to tell her much older boyfriend she is pregnant. While teens bearing babies is no longer a shocker topic in our society and I kept feeling as if I were waiting for something to happen, the language Rapp uses kept me engaged. The simple art of listening was easily my favorite part of the show.
The character of Bernadette is also expertly cast - Dachis resembles at least 8 people I went to college with, including one of my roommates. It seems as though the Scandinavian roots of the Midwest play in the Guthrie's favor here. Her perfectly simple beauty makes her small-town persona very relatable (I would think) to my population and demographic and there is certainly no lack of talent.
There are also a number of subtleties present in the performance that clue you in to the fact that Bernie is growing up. My favorite of these is how she styles her hair, the instant she removed her school-girl ponytail, I knew she had evolved as a character. Simple, but beautiful technique.
Perhaps it is the fact that a sixteen-year-old can be so bold that makes the play intriguing. Even some of my fellow theater-goers seemed to agree as evidenced by the conversation I overheard in the women's restroom after the show:
PATRON 1: I don't know if I got it...However, throughout the performance I found myself wanting more and at no fault of Dachis. The question that stumps me is: More of what? I did not know then, and still do not truly know now. If I had to guess I would say that I was hoping for something compelling - something to take the play from a story that any one of my friends could have told, to something worth staging. Maybe the point Rapp is trying to make is that it IS a story that many people have to tell, but I am not a Post-Modernist so it will take more than that to sell me.
PATRON 2: I don't either.
PATRON 1: I don't think I was that smart at sixteen.
PATRON 2: No, definitely not. I was an idiot at that age.
What I do know is this: When I walked out of the theater, I thought to myself "I would have enjoyed it more as a written work, but all in all a good show." When I reflect sitting here now, I stand by my gut reaction. I did not want to be an audience member watching Bernadette read her diary - I wanted to be the one reading it myself.
Later days, tomorrow this will all be gone...
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