By DANIEL SHOCK
A Seat on the Aisle
I, like many others, experience a few different recurring nightmares.
In one, a bear circles my house trying to get in. In another, I am unprepared for the school bus coming down the road to pick me up. The third in my trio of anxieties is that I often find myself dreaming that I am hiding in a basement from a tornado … or a whole army of tornados.
As the play Natural Shocks begins, we find ourselves in a basement with a woman seemingly on the verge of panic, seeking shelter from a tornado. Welcome to my nightmare!
The play by Lauren Gunderson, as performed by Carrie Ann Schlatter and directed by Eric Bryant, pulls you in slowly by being riotously funny and charming. It lulls you into the belief that all will be fine – just a little bad weather and it will pass. Slowly more is revealed about our host, Angela, as she distracts herself from the tornado by telling us about her life.
Angela has a difficult relationship with her mother. She complains mildly about her husband. We discover she is in the insurance business and loves the math of actuarial science. The math of the future! Probability! She breaks down Hamlet’s ‘To Be or Not to Be’ monologue. She mentions the gun in their basement and as she feels our judgement, she apologizes and acknowledges that we have every right to feel uncomfortable and she reassures us that the weapon is secured in a safe. Little by little we see the cracks in the life she at first depicts as imperfect, yet … fine.
I hesitate to go into too much detail of Angela’s story. Suffice it to say that it explores themes of domestic violence and what that looks like for many of the women who endure it.
If there is an actor in the central Indiana area more talented and convincing in their craft than Carrie Ann Schlatter, I have never seen them. That is no insult to the vast array of talent we have here. I’m just saying Ms. Schlatter is in the top tier. She is utterly convincing as Angela. She has perfect comic timing. She makes you feel as nervous as she is regarding the tornado. Her character feels as real as your best friend or your neighbor.
Following the performance I saw today (Sunday, Nov. 13) there was a talkback where the Ms. Schlatter, Director Eric Bryant, along with the production team and some local resources answer questions about the play and discuss domestic violence. If that kind of discussion interests you, I would recommend attending this Sunday’s matinee when they will do it again.
Never having done a one-person show like this, it’s hard for me to imagine what it was like between actor and director in the rehearsal process. From the talkback, I gathered that the show was a team effort, as it always is, of problem solving and working through the material. Eric is to be congratulated on this very powerful show.
Lighting design by Kairon Bullock was very effective at setting the mood and helping us feel the weather. Likewise, Producer and Sound Designer Marcia Eppich-Harris provided an aural atmosphere that put us right in the middle of the tornado. The set designed by Aric C. Harris fulfilled its job nicely. It felt like a messy man-cave and it worked well. I don’t usually mention stage managers in my reviews – I’m not sure why, maybe their work isn’t always evident – but Missy Rump deserves a shoutout for helping to make the audience feel and see the wind of the tornado!
I am struck by a note in the Natural Shocks script: “The wind will grow as the play goes on. It’s a comedy … until it’s not.” This is a play that will knock you over. It will make you laugh and it will force you to see and feel the terrifying reality that so many women deal with in silence.
Natural Shocks is presented by the Southbank Theatre Company at the Fonseca Theatre, 2508 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis. The remaining dates are Nov. 17 to 20: Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. You can purchase tickets by going to southbanktheatre.org.
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