[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Breakdowns Productions’ The Body, written by Janna King and Genah Redding, directed by Bobby Bruton, Janna King and Genah Redding at The Sherry Theater.
The Body is a really excellent concept. Four short plays all centred around one grim tragedy. A mysterious body falls from a tall building. In each of the stories, the characters are affected by this event in a multitude of different ways. Some only slightly, some profoundly, and all these people are intricately connected. Some unknowingly so, some by choice, some by chance. It reminds me of a group of witnesses to a crime. Everyone has their own perspective. Everyone has their own reason to either get involved or to walk away. But in this case, the crime itself is never solved, and in some of the plays, barely even wondered about. The body, it seems, isn’t the point…
You can tell these actors know each other well. They work together perfectly. They understand each other and play off that familiarity brilliantly. The characters are both wild and real. The storylines are believable as well as a little outrageous.
The Body is a collection of four plays with very clever, funny and interesting premises. Couples in love, couples all too familiar but only just meeting in the flesh. Work colleagues and lovers. Party goers and best friends. The characters themselves mean far more than the reasons they are together. These plays highlight how who we are can hold far more fascination than why. Most of the time, we hardly know ourselves, do we? So they bounce off each other in delightful and relatable ways. All of them stumbling through their lives, just like the rest of us. Nothing earth shattering, nothing life changing. Just a group of people trying to be real.
The plays are dark, but not so dark that they don’t entertain. Even in the falling apart of friendships and relationships, there is humor and poignancy and a little wisdom. It’s a showcase for a fine group of actors and some burgeoning playwrights with some very interesting things to say.
The Body is well worth your time and The Sherry Theater the perfect venue for breakout creatives in NoHo.
It only runs through this weekend, so don’t dawdle! Support our local NoHo theatre!!!
Tickets:Â
When:Â
April 18, 19, 20 and April 25, 26, 27
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 7:30 pm.
Where:Â
The Sherry Theater
11052 Magnolia Blvd., NoHo Arts District, CA 91601
The Body Cast:
Allen Barstow, Alyssa Berkowitz, Theodore Coonradt, Kore Murphy, Genah Redding and Peter Schiavelli.