![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidLast Thursday night I saw Veronika Vavoom, Vulcanologist (Olga Humphrey) at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre. I particularly wanted to go because a friend of mine, Jason Slavick, directed it.
I enjoyed it very much.
The stage was not wide, but used to the max, with the set having two levels, the upper one sloped, and each level having two areas, one smaller than the other. Most of the stage was draped in reddish plastic, indicating the volcano, which could be lit in a variety of ways to show volcano activity (with appropriate sound effects), while other, more moveable props showed other locations (Veronika's apartment, a schoolroom, Bronwyn's hotel room). This also allowed the backup singer, Veronika's way of focusing, to slide in and out of scenes in her silver spangly mini dress and white knee-high go-go boots, long hair flipped up just so. There was a lot of 60s rock in the sound track.
The story is about Veronika, who studies volcanoes and retrieves bodies of people who commit suicide in the volcano. Except that sometimes they're not dead at all. It's a relatively complex plot, weaving together the story of George, the teen with beginning schizophrenia and a totally disaffected mother focused more on shoes and her feet than her offspring, who she rescues from the volcano; along with Veronika's story, of her family's tragedy, and her more recent psychodrama in her social life. How people cope with such stresses seems to be central to the play.
Though I don't really think it's a comedy, per se, there's a lot of funny dialogue, plus, as Queue pointed out, quite a lot of cleavage. I also was entertained by the character who never quite made it on stage in person, the Latin lover Dominguez. I also was fascinated by Bronwyn, the mother who has her nails painted with 10 different landscapes of places she's visited. Amazingly self-centered woman.
All in all, an enjoyable show.
I enjoyed it very much.
The stage was not wide, but used to the max, with the set having two levels, the upper one sloped, and each level having two areas, one smaller than the other. Most of the stage was draped in reddish plastic, indicating the volcano, which could be lit in a variety of ways to show volcano activity (with appropriate sound effects), while other, more moveable props showed other locations (Veronika's apartment, a schoolroom, Bronwyn's hotel room). This also allowed the backup singer, Veronika's way of focusing, to slide in and out of scenes in her silver spangly mini dress and white knee-high go-go boots, long hair flipped up just so. There was a lot of 60s rock in the sound track.
The story is about Veronika, who studies volcanoes and retrieves bodies of people who commit suicide in the volcano. Except that sometimes they're not dead at all. It's a relatively complex plot, weaving together the story of George, the teen with beginning schizophrenia and a totally disaffected mother focused more on shoes and her feet than her offspring, who she rescues from the volcano; along with Veronika's story, of her family's tragedy, and her more recent psychodrama in her social life. How people cope with such stresses seems to be central to the play.
Though I don't really think it's a comedy, per se, there's a lot of funny dialogue, plus, as Queue pointed out, quite a lot of cleavage. I also was entertained by the character who never quite made it on stage in person, the Latin lover Dominguez. I also was fascinated by Bronwyn, the mother who has her nails painted with 10 different landscapes of places she's visited. Amazingly self-centered woman.
All in all, an enjoyable show.