Goldstar

• Rated 2.0
• Written on Nov 20 2009

The acting generally was good—no disappointment in the acting overall—but the play lacks focus and resolution. Many threads were left hanging. Some relationships needed further exploration, especially between Christine and Paul. The character of Ingrid also hung in the shadows. Why did she react passively when Andre began avoiding her? What drove her to write? (We only have Faye's embittered explanation to go on.) What does she see in the clingy attention given her by Christine? On a more mundane level, how couldn't she have known until fairly late in the play that Christine lived in her building? That bit of business was hard to swallow. The play has good intentions, but ultimately it fails to deliver strong motivations for its main characters, and hence it doesn't arrive at a satisfying conclusion: what was there to conclude? I found the character of Christine, though very well acted by Meg Harkins, to be annoying at best. She glommed onto Ingrid, hoping to suck some of her energy, or to find the inspiration to pursue her own writing career. But the transfer of power wasn't believable. As Ingrid declined in strength and Christine grew, it all seemed pathetic. Kudos to the cast for making the best of a weak script.