THEATER ALERT - One Weekend PREVIEW : Players' Ring
There's only one weekend, THIS WEEKEND, to catch Gemma Soldati clowning around in The Poor Rich.
Soldati, who wrote and performed the all-age Adventures of Sleepyhead, has done an about-face, this time creating a decidedly grown-up piece.
The one-hour play addresses the power hungry or "the mischief that runs our world," through a character who embodies the personification of Mother Greed in one of her many forms.
Days before opening, Soldati and Billy Butler (working lights and sound) are at the theater going about "the behind the scenes business."
Soldati, in casual jeans and top, dons her character's huge, glittery jewels, and towering wig, and performs a fast-forward version of the show, as she and Butler adjust and refine staging, volume, lights, and the like.
There's discussion around the show's improvisation nature, and its "unknowables" - those unscripted responses from engaged audience members. Timing and fluidity are everything.
Even in the day's accelerated pace Soldati's character's hubris, avarice and ambition are evident. So too is the script's and performer's brazen and smart humor.
The play's mature material is equally on display. The character is the epitome of unquenchable desire. Point: the easily offended should skip this one. The rest should make their way to the Players' Ring to check out a cheeky, absurd original, created and performed by a topnotch contemporary theater clown.
As the promo suggests, "Prepare to be seduced, betrayed, and most of all—delighted."
WHERE: Player's Ring,105 Marcy St., Portsmouth NH
WHEN: Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 7 pm
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