Rachel Sorsa (Photo by Keith Stevenson)
Reviewed by Martίn Hernández
Ruskin Group Theatre
Through July 19
RECOMMENDED
Rachel Sorsa (Photo by Keith Stevenson)
The gentle sounds of children laughing and calliope tunes from a carnival merry-go-round play in the background as a lone 60-ish woman rests on a couch. She appears exhausted and ill as exhibited by her sluggish gait and various medications on a nearby lamp table. Satisfied with a test clip she has just recorded on a cellphone, she takes a long sip of wine, grooms her unkempt hair, and hits record for the real thing.
Ian McRae’s poignant one-person play is a recounting of one woman’s struggle to overcome a life-altering tragedy and find redemption for her role in it. Mostly somber but ofttimes comic, McRae’s writing is abetted by a sturdy solo performance from Rachel Sorsa. While the action on stage is limited, the talented Sorsa’s ability to convey varied emotional levels keeps the play from being static. Honed by Elina de Santos’s direction, Sorsa delivers a nuanced take on a woman whose psychic punishment is delivered not only by society but also by herself.
Holed up in her mobile home in Santa Cruz, waitress and bartender Pam (Sorsa) is recording a missive to her long lost son, Michael, even though she has not seen him in 24 years, nor does she know of his whereabouts. Like the proverbial message in a bottle, she hopes it will somehow find its way to him on YouTube. The video is as much for her as for her son — a cathartic balm of sorts to relieve her grief and guilt since Michael’s disappearance as a six-year-old child.
Suspected by the local police and townsfolk of responsibility for Michael’s vanishing, Pam endures decades of accusations and derision. Limited career choices have left her on the lower rungs of the wealth ladder, the fate of many a single mother. Emotionally and financially stunted, she spirals into alcoholism and meaningless affairs with equally meaningless men, eventually achieving 19 years of sobriety through AA and apparently coming to terms with her life. However, recent gloomy news serves as the catalyst for her relapse as well as her effort to reach Michael.
While Pam laughs off her own mother’s comically drunken forays, that generational trauma toughened her up as a child and taught her to hold feelings in check. Pam, however, has a soft spot for her ex-husband and Michael’s father, despite his abandoning her and their son.
Jeff Gardner’s sound design is a subtle but effective complement to Sorsa’s convincing performance. Whether expressing delight at reliving Michael’s childish antics or raging over hundreds of thousands of children that go missing every year, her Pam becomes an unlikely advocate for imperfect mothers who need as much support as they can get.
Ruskin Group Theatre, 2800 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica. Sat., 5 pm, Sun., 4 pm, dark July 4 weekend; thru July 19. www.ruskingrouptheatre.com Running time: 70 minutes
