By Ernest Kearney — Loose Underwear has a great deal going for it not the least of which is writer/performer Dagmar Stansova.
As the daughter of Holocaust survivors who fled Communist Czechoslovakia and made her way across the American panorama; from medical school to losing a part on TV’s Married with Children for being too sexy, Stansova has stories aplenty for the telling.
And she tells them very well, punctuated by the occasional dancing interlude, again which she does very well.
There is a line in the show:
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we weren’t afraid of our own fire?”
A wonderful sentiment that unfortunately seems applicable to the show; Stansova takes us through moments that are personal and funny, but her narrative structure is too loose and lacks — well fire, resulting in a performance that while solid is missing a dramatic edge.
Races, pursuits and escapes are exciting. Strolls aren’t. And that’s what we’re given in Loose Underwear; a stroll.
This comes down to the journey not being given a definition. At the core, this is the tale of a young woman trying to emerge from her mother’s expectations and the darkness of her mother’s history. But those elements have not been given focus.
Thus, all the potential impactful moments throughout the work are robbed of “impact” because the structure of the piece is denied the energy required to sharpen them, and this softness does not grip the audience.
The program credits Debra De Liso as both dramaturge and director. In the first capacity she deserves kudos, in the second less so. She has served the story but neglected the staging.
This makes for a pleasant night in the theater but not a memorable one.
A SILVER MEDAL.
Loose Underwear
played during the
Hollywood Fringe Festival 2019
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