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Theater Sat Jul 09 2011
A Girl With Sun in Her Eyes
You watch "Law & Order", right? Come on, admit it. You love it.
Well, see, this is kind of like that. Seeing a A Girl With Sun in Her Eyes is kind of like watching "Law & Order", except more powerful because everything's happening right there in front of you. The violence is much more palpable. You can smell it.
The play opens with our (still a little drunk from the night before) protagonist William (Vincent Teninty) nervously waiting in the questioning room at a police station. It's 6am, and he's been dragged in because he was the last person seen with a missing police officer (Lucy, played by Audrey Francis) who was posing as a prostitute. As if that weren't bad enough, he's in extra trouble because the beefy, hot-headed veteran police officer questioning him (Landy, powerfully played by Steve Pickering) is Lucy's partner, and he's more than happy to kill William with his bare hands if he finds out William hurt her.
The rest unfolds much like your typical episode of "Law & Order", with creative cutting back and forth between the crime scene and the questioning room at the police station. We find out Lucy is indeed dead and we find out how she died, (I don't think I'm spoiling anything by telling you that) -- but not without plenty of twists, turns, disturbing conversations and even more disturbing fight scenes along the way, complete with a fair share of heads bouncing off floors and tables.
The casting in this play is excellent -- the characters all look like they were made to play these parts, and they play the powerfully. The fight scenes are particularly impressive. Kudos to the choreographer, Matt Hawkins. It really seems like these guys are kicking each other's asses, to the extent that I was at times genuinely worried the actors were hurt. The set is simple and effective, with the stage between two opposing seating areas.
There's really not much more to it. A Girl With Sun in Her Eyes is certainly not the most artful or thought-provoking play I've seen, but I'll be damned if it's not entertaining.
A Girl With Sun in Her Eyes plays Thursdays through Sundays until August 7 at Pine Box Theater. Tickets are $35.
