Almost, Maine
Almost, Maine
By John Cariani
Directed by Jay Hopkins
Jester Theatre Company at The Orlando Shakespere
Orlando FL</strong>
Maine – the only state that just connects to one other state. The place where going south for the winter means skiing Vermont. The state where a letter marked “Bob in Township 13 Range 7” will arrive promptly. Spend a winter or five there, and you’ll find entertainment options are pretty much snowmobiling and sex. There’s beer, of course, but mostly its snowmobiling and sex, if you can find someone. But in this surreal land falling in love involves impacting the ground; when the “other shoe” drops it may land on your head, and if you are asked to return love, don’t forget the receipt.
In these eight little vignettes, we dance between meeting for the first time (“Her Heart” Gemma Fearn, Don Fowler) to meeting for the last time (“Story of Hope” Fearn and Fowler again), how much love can hurt (“This Hurts” Ryan Gigliotti, Michele Simms (Feren)) to how much hurt love can take (“Where It Went” Simms, Gigliotti). Along the way we discover the Mainers don’t always have accents, they sometimes hold jobs other than lobstermen, and they pronounce “Bangor” funny.
With the show split into small plays we can glide over the subtext without bogging down in complex stories, and see the cast each shine in a starring role – Gigliotti as the elegant ear muffed guy explaining non Euclidian geometry to his girl friend, Fowler as the sad sack in the bar watching his ex-girl friend prepare to marry another, Simms struggling to see love where she only feels too many layers of snowmobile gear, and Simms a woman who can wield a means ironing board. This is a delightful and touching romp, and it’s never too early to prepare for V-day. Yeah, lunk head, it’s a month away. START SHOPPING! And not at Home Depot.
For more information on Jester Theater Company, please visit http://www.jestertheater.com
