9/14 – “Two Alone/Too Together” (Fringe NYC Show)
Written by Peter Welch. Directed by Vincent Scott
9/14 – “The Day the Sky Turned Black” (FringeNYC Show)
Written and Performed by Ali Kennedy-Scott. Directred by Adrian Barnes.
 
Reviewed by David Roberts and Joseph Verlezza (“Joseph’s Jolts”)
 
Sunday’s Round-Up of reviews finds one of the above plays far-and-away the most successful and one needing never to be seen. Here goes.
 
From David –
 
Ali Kennedy-Scott’s “The Day the Sky Turned Black” is a FringeNYC must-see show. She convincingly creates five characters whose stories pre, during, and post Australia’s 2009 “Black Saturday” share how a variety of people cope with and understand disaster in their lives and in their communities.

Kennedy-Scott's characters are believable and portrayed with distinct personalities, body language, voices, and costume bits. The solo performance is narrated by Heidi, the journalist who covered the disaster. She relates her interviews and interactions with thirty-eight year-old Gillian Harris who survived the fire storms and now is left to deal with her arsonist son’s involvement in setting one of the blazes. Her conflict centers on her anger at the government for not stepping into helping known arsonists and her memories of this self-same son who comforted her after receiving abusive treatment from her husband. The third character is a six year-old boy Aiden who deals with the loss of his best friend and his home and his BMX bike. Kennedy-Scott chooses to have Aiden respond to loss with the same exuberance and bravado he exhibits when he’s smashing Caramello Koalas. It would have been interesting to see a difference in Aiden after the loss. The fourth character, Kerry, looks disaster straight in the face and moves her life on. She taught Aiden’s friend who died in the bush fires, and one year after the disaster, she is teaching second grade. The final survivor is Mabel whose husband of many years dies after sending her before him to a safe place away from their home. This is the most challenging character for Kennedy-Scott because she has to age before the audience which she does brilliantly with a bent back, a jaw-dropped gravelly voice, and that slight hand tremor which foreshadows more age deterioration to come. Mabel’s loss and her subsequent desire to move-on are movingly transparent in Kennedy-Scott’s body, face, eyes, even in her scarf.
 
Skillfully directed by Adrian Barnes with appropriate original music by Pat Wilson, “The Day the Sky Turned Black” by Ali Kennedy-Scott allows the audience to counterpoint their experience with disaster with the experiences of the characters they see in the performance. This elevates the play to a universal level and permits audience members to not only empathize with five survivors but also to re-examine the disaster and loss in their own lives and communities: September 11, Tsunami, Katrina, Earthquakes in India (and far too many more). But Mabel’s loss is the loss of many who lose lovers and spouses, and partners not just to disaster but to Alzheimer’s, cardiac disease, the insanities of war. Gillian’s struggle is the struggle of many parents who do not know how to deal with their children’s irrational and erratic behavior. Aiden’s loss is the loss many children feel when a parent dies or a parent leaves, or a close friend dies of Leukemia. Finally, Kerry’s belief that she is “prepared for the bush fires” counterpoints with everyone’s belief that they are ready for whatever comes their way until the tinder dry ground around them begins to sweep fire through all of their bravado and denial.
 
See this show before it goes away.
 
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We have dealt with the best, now for the worst of the day. Whatever Peter Welch was thinking when he wrote “Two Alone Too Together,” he was not thinking successful theatre. This dreadful piece of theatre drove six audience members to exit and left the rest of us stranded Sunday souls to suffer through to the end. If Stephen Dym is not locked into a contract, he might consider something else to do the rest of the run of this often offensive work. Enough said.

Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased online at www.fringenyc.org by phone at 866-468-7619 up to 24 hours before the performance, in person at FringeCENTRAL (1 East 8^thStreet at Fifth Avenue). Tickets are $18.00 at the door and can be purchased 15 minutes before each performance (cash only) at Venue #10 IATI Theater and Venue #16 Players Theatre.

“Joseph’s Jolts” and more reviews to come.