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Hollywood Fringe Festival 2012: 'If Water Were Present, It Would Be Called Drowning'
Photo courtesy of John Sinner/Theatre Revelation
The plight of the woman trapped in crippling domesticity and pushing middle age has been explored many times before, but rarely in such an explosive manner as "If Water Were Present, It Would Be Called Drowning."
John Sinner's one-hour play, part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, stars Betsy Moore as Lolly, a 30-something mom dying to break free of her stifling life with her three kids and husband. The play opens with her swearing to leave them without a trace, then tracks the course of her desperate fantasies: From making a break for it alone with just a tattered map, to getting gang-banged on the kitchen table.
What's incredible about the play and Moore's performance is that it manages to convey the very real horror of a future devoid of possibilities with almost slapstick humor. Moore is perfect, wearing clown-ish make-up to convey the façade beneath which she hides her real desires and appearing at all times to just barely contain her fury.
If you need to see something to make you feel better about your own life (unless, of course, you're also a desperate housewife), check this show out.
"If Water Were Present, It Would Be Called Drowning" is playing at the Open Fist Theatre on Friday June 15 at 9:30 pm, Saturday June 16 at 11:30 pm, Sunday June 17 at 5pm, Friday June 22 at 9:30 pm and Saturday June 23 at 6pm. Tickets available here or by calling (323) 455-4585.
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