Humankind has always been fascinated by the ocean- its beauty and its deadly power. The Water Plays, three short plays by Brett Steven Abelman, deals with our morbid fascination with the sea’s most present danger- drowning.
The first of the three plays, Bathyphobia, tracks the slow, concrete bound and watery descent of a man indebted to the mob ( J. W. Crump). Darkly funny, the man’s racing thoughts become more and more absurd and associative as he comes ever closer to the far away sea floor. Bathyphobia strikes the perfect balance between humor and fear as we watch the main character try in vain to continue to joke as he runs out of air and the water pressure begins to slowly crush him.
The Water First opens with two characters in a row boat, out to sea without a paddle. Their relationship is unclear at first, but their dark and twisted past slowly comes to light. Nick Jordan (Cam) and Tiffany Garfinkle (Dreah) are both excellent. Both performances are detailed and interesting- you are never sure which character to pity and which one to fear.
Dolphinless follows a girl thrown overboard, lost at sea with only a life jacket, as she fights for her life. Drifting between consciousness and lucid dreams Aishie (Bridget Garwood) struggles to decided if her life is worth fighting for. Visited in dreams by her sister (Erica Smith) and an old woman(Carol Randolph) who seems to know her very well, Aishie has to evaluate the her past life choices in order to find something worth living for. The staging for this play was simple and beautiful- utilizing lengths of black fabric and black clad members of the ensemble. A play that takes place in both the ocean and land bound dreams is a challenge for any director, but Gwen Grastorf rose to the challenge.
The true star of The Water Plays is the writing. Each play is detailed, natural, and well crafted. The Water First is a standout, slowly revealing it’s secrets without leaving the audience confused or lost. Well crafted new plays are few and far between, especially at Fringe, and I commend Brett Steven Abelman and will look for productions of his work in the future. Additional congratulations are due to Sound Designer/ Composer Sam Cooper, both for his beautiful original music and for his choice of “Big Sky” by lamentably underrated Kate Bush for closing music.
See It: Fine acting, fine playwrighting, and fine production values are what you look for in a show.
Skip It: Your fear of drowning is just too strong.
A Note: I have worked with Tiffany Garfinkle in the past. It did not effect my review.
The Water Plays
Written by Brett Steven Ableman
Directed by Gwen Grastorf
Produced by Craig Abelman and Brett Steven Abelman
Reviewed by Jessica Pearson
Running time: 100 minutes
Read all the reviews and check out the full Capital Fringe schedule here.
Did you see the show? What did you think?
Thanks for your helpful comments Anonymous. Expressing your shallow emotional reactions to the show is really informative and enlightening for other readers. Keep up the incisive commentary!
I absolutely agree that the writing in this show was excellent. There was some room for improvement, but Brett Abelman has serious potential and within two or three shows he will certainly be turning out magnificent work.
I felt that the direction was fine, but honestly, the acting was perhaps the worst I had ever seen. Maybe every actor was having an off night, but if so, something is wrong. It was actually PAINFUL to see these people act.
The man delivering “Bathyphobia” rushed through the whole thing, losing many a good lines. In “The Water”, the actors were difficult to understand and generally pretty horrible. And in “Dolphinless”, I would have really enjoyed punching that actress in the face. She annoyed the shit out of me. The other two were also pretty bad, but the lead in “Dolphinless” simply enraged me.
Bridget Garwood is the hardest working woman I’ve seen in Fringe this year! Nicely done.
The plays are well-written too, and I don’t want to detract from that when I say that I do think each of them could use a final edit (or another set of eyes… or suggestions from the actors). Garwood’s work, again, was amazing, and I just kept thinking, “Why do the playwright and director have to keep making her repeat certain lines and emotions over and over again, when the audience already gets it?” I think Dolphinless could be shaved down by about 15 – 20 minutes, and all of your actress’s amazing energy could be better concentrated and less exploited. (Also, the final line of the play is predicatble and silly and really detracts from everything that came before. When Garwood took her breath to shout the final line, I thought, “Oh please don’t make her say *that*,” and then she said it, and I was SO disappointed.
To the rest of the ensemble: Also nicely done. Great writing and acting during parts of all of the other work. This was really nice to see and I look forward to more BSA plays at future Fringe. (Would also be interested in seeing an edit of this series.)
Brett is a fantastic writer. Gwen is fantastic at everything she does. I have read these plays, and although I have not seen the show, I can assure you that when you put these two fantastic people together, no wrong can happen. Just sayin’.
This year I had the honor of meeting Edward Albee, and that is a memory I will always treasure. How incredible would it have been to be among the first audiences to discover his work as a young artist? I happen to know this playwright, and am a playwright in the fringe myself – none of us would presume to compare our work to Godot, but I have seen Brett’s talent as a writer and passion to hone his craft. Regardless of where you will place The Water Plays in the grand echelon of modern drama, mark my words, you will be proud to know that you discovered Brett’s work at this point in his career. CapFringe offers a rare venue for artistic discovery. Go see it!
We thought these plays were uneven and certainly not a must see. The acting and staging was fine. The problem was the plays themselves. The first is quite good, the second so-so and the third not very good. Both the second and third could use some tightening/cutting. The third is a way overly lengthy, not-very-good take on something – “choose life” – that has been done over and over and much better. “Waiting For Godot” is perhaps the best play that explores the territory. The play “K2” also does so, as does the film “Touching the Void.” These are all several orders of magnitude better than “Dolphinless.” So I disagree with Jessica’s review and would not urge people to neglect other Fringe offerings to go see these.
Tom Holzman
Thank you, Jessica! Since you’re a Kate Bush fan who is probably familiar with side two of “Hounds of Love,” I’ll have you (and everyone else who reads this) know that it’s not coincidence that hers is the bows music – her song suite about a woman drowning is the major inspiration for the third play, Dolphinless.
Giving Kate the credit she’s due! Go listen to her stuff, people, seriously.