Deedee Woche and Davonna Dehay (Photo by Nicole Souza)
Reviewed by Asa Fris
Firelight Collective at Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre
Through June 29th
Dolores by Edward Allan Baker is about a confrontation between two sisters living in Rhode Island in 1985. Ultimately, this staging at the Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre is hard to connect with and just as hard to fathom.
One Sunday afternoon, Sandra (Deedee Woche) prepares for a relaxing day at home: she tidies the living room, unplugs the phone, sets out two cupcakes and a coke, and plays a song on a tape recorder which she begins to dance to. That is, until her sister Dolores (Davonna Dehay) arrives unannounced — bruised, distraught, and begging for a place to stay.
What ensues is a sprawling exchange about abuse, trauma, and the importance of family. Dolores offers intimate and personal glimpses into the cyclical nature of domestic abuse, and this emotionally charged back-and-forth is the central action of the play. But a confusing design, inadequate staging, and unfocused action cause the production to fall flat.
The playing space consists of a couch, a small table, a small kitchen, and lots of other various decorations donning the walls, including a radiator and a folded up wall-bed, and one door up stage left. Though the set, constructed by Matthew Brown, is able to convey a New England lower class setting, other parts of the design look much too modern, specifically the costumes, designed by Nora Wilde, which are closer to 2005 than to 1985.
And though the set is quite detailed, its layout and director Stephanie Feury’s staging never quite mesh. There’s no instance where the set assists the staging and uplifts the action, and often we see characters behind tables and couches, or in spots that constrain the actors.
The intricate decorations also add opportunities for business, but instead of freeing the actors to play or grounding them further in the world, actions like cleaning, looking through phone books, hanging coats, etc., all come off as superfluous. This stems partly from the excessive amount of business Feury assigns them, and partly from Woche’s performance as Sandra, which lacks commitment.
While Woche and Dehay deliver some emotionally raw sequences, most of the time they merely teeter and shuffle as Sandra and Dolores, and the action is hard to follow.
Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre (SFS Theatre mainstage) 5636 Melrose Ave; https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/12036?tab=details, running time approximately 45 minutes
