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There's always a hitch
Bob is not the innocent teenage girl she first seems to bein the intelligent, multilayered psychological drama "See Bob Run" by Daniel MacIvor.
By JOSHUA TANZER
Offoffoff.com
(Originally reviewed during February 2001 run at the Red Room.)
Bob — nobody calls her Roberta — stands on the side of the road
with her thumb out, a tight Abba T-shirt, a little pink suitcase. She greets
each driver with a friendly smile and stories about her family, her best
friend, her boyfriend who's a singer in a rock band. She's determined to
head east until she gets to the water. She could be any fresh,
young teenager on an adventure — except for her mind, which, as we
slowly see, is filled with ghastly memories and dim understanding.
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| SEE BOB RUN |
Written by: Daniel MacIvor.
Directed by: Timothy P. Jones.
Cast: Susan O'Connor.
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Few of these dark thoughts emerge outright. They're lodged in this girl's
subconscious and you have to read between the lines to know what's going on
there. Ultimately, many of her innocent stories are wrong, and they're
interspersed with demented fairy tales she tells herself that indirectly
reveal much of what's really jumbled up in her head. Her true story slowly
unfolds and we watch her incrementally unravel.
Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor's play — like his previous one,
"Never Swim Alone" — won
one of the top awards at the Fringe Festival,
and although the two are starkly different, it's easy to see why. "See Bob Run"
demands a lot of insight from the audience and repays it with a gripping story
that lurks below the surface of the script. Everything about the play is
painfully right. And actress Susan O'Connor, who lent a
good-humored girlish charm to "Never Swim Alone," is perfect for this part —
a bright-faced teen, innocent on the outside but dark and dangerous on the inside.
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FEBRUARY 19, 2001
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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