CANCELED – A BODY OF WATER

What is absolutely certain is that A Body Of Water takes audiences on a ride they’ll be thinking and talking about long after they’ve left Actors Co-op for home. That, and a trio of performances so memorable, even Moss and Avis could scarcely forget them.

A middle aged couple played by Bruce Ladd and Treva Tegtmeier enter into a nicely appointed living room set configured with the audience on all four sides of the square room. They are in their morning robes. They comment on how the house seems to be surrounded by water, a sight they find pleasing. The problem is they have no memories. They don’t know each other, they don’t know their own names. They seem pleasant and intelligent, but bewildered. They woke up in bed naked with the man’s hand on the woman’s breast. This leads him to believe they could be married. The woman is not so sure. They discretely open their robes to each other to check if that rings a bell. It doesn’t, and it wasn’t long before I scribbled the note, No Exit, referring to Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist play in which three people find themselves stuck in a room in Hell. This play is not that easy to pigeonhole.

This play and production begins with a fair amount of wit, even humor. The humor remains almost to the very end, not least because what else can one do under the circumstances but try to make light of it, to laugh rather than cry in existential terror? No doubt jokes and laughter will rear their heads again after we leave these character to their...fate?Punishment? Bad luck? Something else?

Director Nan McNamara, who starred in both of those shows, demonstrates an assured affinity for the rhythms and nuances in Blessing’s writing. Leaning into the play’s ever-shifting realities and unmoored characters, McNamara’s in-the-round staging slyly situates the actors in a sea of faces. An immersive rustic sound design by Warren Davis effectively furthers the sense of isolation.

A marvel of a play. Blessing's insights into human perception are truly brilliant. This is an amazing cast of three with stellar direction from Nan McNamara.

This show has great acting — and is worth seeing if you want to see some quality actors from the Actors Co-Op acting company. But the story itself is irritating and confusing, and you’ll walk out a bit befuddled. If you enjoy the thought questions that go with something like that, you’ll enjoy this. But if you are looking for something that goes from Point A to Point B in some form of logical progress — in particular, if you want that Point B to be different than your starting Point A, then this likely isn’t the show for you.

A middle-aged couple wake up one morning naked in bed. The woman gently removes his hand from her breast, dons a handy silk robe and is off to the kitchen to make coffee. The man soon follows. But they seem unsure with each other; they don’t know each other’s names for starters. Heck, they don’t know their own names. Thus begins Lee Blessing’s A Body of Water, currently receiving a stellar production of its World Premiere new ending at Actors Co-Op in Hollywood.

There are many ways to explain away the syndrome that afflicts an affluent couple, Avis (TrevaTegtmeier) and Moss (Bruce Ladd), who don’t know where they are, who they are to each other, or even their names. Just when we may sense we ‘re getting to the bottom of things, we meet Wren (Ivy Beech), who may or may not be their daughter…. or a caregiver … or a jailor, for that matter. When, after all is done, the play turns back upon itself, playwright Lee Blessing’s satisfying ending rings with such an emotional symbiosis that we know that finally, the truth has been revealed.

Under director Nan McNamara’s skilled guidance, the talented cast builds their characters both as independent and intimately entwined.

Director Nan McNamara does a powerful job of helming a play filled with fear, pain, and humor as she carefully dissects the lives of three individuals and their interactions with each other.

A Body of Water is a dark, funny and emotionally vivid metaphor for the often precarious peace that keeps marriage afloat, but it’s also about how we shape our identities. Are we the items we collect? The list of our accomplishments? The feelings we have? The way someone describes us?

As for that new ending, it’s bold in its theatricality and feels appropriately shocking in a play with so many twists. - RECOMMENDED

Body of Water is successfully told and like the other Blessing offerings I’ve viewed almost razor like in its attempt to explore an idea or concept. I gasped while watching this, so I was connected enough to feel something [for the characters on stage].