“Warm Enough for Swimming” at FringeNYC 2014 at the Sheen Center Black Box Theatre (Closes on Friday August 22, 2014)
“Warm Enough for Swimming” at FringeNYC 2014 at the Sheen Center Black Box Theatre (Closes on Friday August 22, 2014) Written by Maggie Cino Directed by Fred Backus Reviewed by David Roberts Theatre Reviews Limited
The characters in Maggie Cino’s “Warm Enough for Swimming,” currently running at FringeNYC 2014, all need to make the commitment to participate in a twelve-step program in an attempt to end the cycles of self-recrimination and co-dependence that complicate their lives. Eddie (David J. Goldberg) and his sister Bridget (Phoebe Silva) are the grandchildren of their recently deceased maternal grandmother with whom Bridget has been living on the Jersey shore. Grandma apparently physically abused the siblings’ mother cracking her on the head with a skillet more than once – a series of attacks which caused Alzheimer’s like symptoms and the mother’s suicide. Eddie wonders if granny similarly abused his sister over the many years she lived with and cared for her. There is enough co-dependence here to flummox the best therapist.
Bridget’s co-dependence draws her to her organized crime boyfriend Alex (Derrick Peterson) whose accent would place him somewhere in the former Eastern Block. Eddie’s co-dependence draws him to uber-protector and organizer Viva (Lindsey Carter) who unexpectedly joins her husband at their childhood home after he left her mid post-wedding festivities in California to come to his sister’s side upon grandma’s inconveniently scheduled demise.
All of this occurs at the height of the financial meltdown in 2008: Eddie exposes the wrongdoing in his financial institution (losing his job) and Viva’s dad wants to dump his sizeable fortune on Eddie and Viva before the Feds prosecute him for his own mortgage malfeasance. If there is a point to Ms. Cino’s new play it is as elusive as the never-ending coffee making the cast engages in throughout the play. The audience understands that everyone is in a less than healthy relationship but the audience is not given well-rounded characters they can care about or conflicts that matter much. One just wants to scream, “Get over it and move on!”
Instead there is a lot of punching and arguing and eventually Bridget throws everyone out and prepares herself for a life-ending dip in the Atlantic. Is she following in her mother’s footsteps? Is she pregnant with Alex’s child (lot of belly-grabbing goes on)? The actors do their best to make sense of it all with or without Fred Backus’ direction and ultimately are unable to infuse “Warm Enough for Swimming” with enough energy to keep it afloat.
WARM ENOUGH FOR SWIMMING
“Warm Enough for Swimming” is presented by Obvious Volcano in Association with The Present Company (Elena K. Holy, Producing Artistic Director). Directed by Fred Backus.
The cast of “Warm Enough for Swimming” includes Lindsey Carter, David J. Goldberg, Derrick Peterson, and Phoebe Silva.
For performance schedule, ticketing information and more information about the presenting company, please visit www.FringeNYC.org. For mobile ticketing, please visit www.FringeonTheFly.com. The running time is 1 hour and 40 minutes with no intermission.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Thursday, August 21, 2014
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