Reviewed by Amalisha HuEck
Fun opening! The plastic duck - a toy in the park - is giving us the house rules. Exciting, yet not sure what to expect?!
It almost sounded like - we might have a plastic duck as one of the characters.
On that small stage, the little playground is created--an outdoor swing, climber with monkey bars and the spinning wheel with two different kinds of ducks to sit on and spin. The many other playground obstacles definitely made me think about the title, 'Gruesome Playground Injuries'. Wow, that would be easy to do here - get injured. But the actors are so careful, in their running and pushing each other and playing as kids do, they create a fun place to be.
We witness, over the period of thirty years, how the relationship changes between two kids, Kayleen (Marilyn Bass) and Doug (Grant Terzakis). The Golden Bowl with a spectrum of lights that shines on it, gives us the time track that is taking us through the timeline back and forth. We see them first as 8 years old, fighting who will be faster to get on the swing. Then at the age of 23, 13, 28, back to 18, then to 33, back to 23, and finally ending at 38.
We witness their first kiss, their injuries, their personalities and how life took a toll on them over the years. The complexities of life are hard on the accident-prone Doug, who goes through a series of all kinds of injuries during his lifetime, which gets him to eventually become dependent on the walking cane. Kayleen, on the other hand with her internal struggles since childhood, does not change much externally over the years. She is beautiful, but pretty lost in this world of perplexity, and her stomach issues do not give her comfort ever.
Even though the audience might expect these two characters to eventually get together, because there is a certain love weaving between them. They stay good friends forever, truly caring about each other, yet they don't know how to express it. The actors play nicely off each other, and the strong monologues are deeply explored. Their indigenous struggles get to the edge of who they are as characters. Beautifully done with solid performances!
The production team for GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES are Rajiv Joseph - a wonderful Playwright whose play is masterfully written to give the actors the ability to dig into the emotions of the characters. Together with director Wolfgang Bodison - a strong, focused and dedicated, who knows how to pull the best from his actors, makes the play exciting, enjoyable and shows the internal struggle within the actors. Bodison was also tasked with creating the wonderfully clever Set Design. The music credits for all scene Intro and Outro songs are written and performed by Bon Iver. All songs interludes are written and performed by Jonna Jinton, and the curtain call song is written and performed by Labrinth.
The Playhouse West - Magnolia Studio at 10634 Magnolia Blvd., in North Hollywood 91601 is a home for this Production. The play runs from February 15 - March 9, 2025. (No Show Mar. 2
nd) Sun. Mar. 9
th added.
Performances are on Saturday 7pm and Sunday 2pm. Running time:
90 min. (no intermission)
General admission: $10
Tickets:
www.onstage411.com/gpi