A Beautiful Landscape
Review of Landscape of the Body at UW School of Drama by Sam H-A.
The stage is dark except for one guardrail. A woman stands, feverishly looking over her shoulder, frantically writing on sheets of paper. Stuffing them in a bottle. Throwing them over the edge. A man comes up behind her and you are swept up in a conversation that has no meaning to you. Words like "confession" and "yes." Short and curt. Until the woman finally blows up. Launching into a monologue about her son. Blackout. We switch settings to an interrogation room. We soon find out the woman is a suspect in her son's murder. Another woman, with a voice from "above" is talking now. Explaining everything that's going on. Her death, her nephew's death. You are then launched into a story of love, loss, heartbreak, and sorrow. Laughter. Tears. All while finding out the gut-wrenching past history of Bert, a teenage boy from Maine whose mother is mourning the loss of her sister while trying to raise him. All the while--in the present--she's trying to find out who murdered and decapitated him.
Seems gory, right? It's not. Beautifully staged and incredibly acted, director L. Zane tells this heart-wrenching story beautifully, and this show will definitely bring you to tears of laughter, joy, and sorrow.
Landscape of the Body
UW School of Drama
Meany Studio Theatre
Through November 18
Watch the Landscape of the Body video:
Photo by Frank Rosenstein
The stage is dark except for one guardrail. A woman stands, feverishly looking over her shoulder, frantically writing on sheets of paper. Stuffing them in a bottle. Throwing them over the edge. A man comes up behind her and you are swept up in a conversation that has no meaning to you. Words like "confession" and "yes." Short and curt. Until the woman finally blows up. Launching into a monologue about her son. Blackout. We switch settings to an interrogation room. We soon find out the woman is a suspect in her son's murder. Another woman, with a voice from "above" is talking now. Explaining everything that's going on. Her death, her nephew's death. You are then launched into a story of love, loss, heartbreak, and sorrow. Laughter. Tears. All while finding out the gut-wrenching past history of Bert, a teenage boy from Maine whose mother is mourning the loss of her sister while trying to raise him. All the while--in the present--she's trying to find out who murdered and decapitated him.
Seems gory, right? It's not. Beautifully staged and incredibly acted, director L. Zane tells this heart-wrenching story beautifully, and this show will definitely bring you to tears of laughter, joy, and sorrow.
Landscape of the Body
UW School of Drama
Meany Studio Theatre
Through November 18
Watch the Landscape of the Body video:
