Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Silicone Diaries - Buddies in Bad Times

Didn't know what to except going in. I had sat this play out in last year's lesbian season, but with a SLIGHT shift toward gay friendly programming I bought a subscription to Buddies and went to see "The Silicone Diaries" last night.
The play was fantastic, a detailed story of a desire for beauty and transformation, at it's best exploring the essence of self acceptance.
Nina Arsenault was stunning, moving. At the height of the play she describes a friend and mentor who died from surgery with an urgency that takes your breath away.
The play de-rails a bit after that with a lengthy coda about an exercise bike and the phrase "the next step of my body transformation" being used more than ten times in the space of five minutes. It's jarring as the rest of the play is grounded so much in reality, this abstract ending could work in another form but it needs to be more concise, I got on the journey at the beginning and this ending derails the train a bit.
Afterward a Q & A, which works for most plays but here felt uncomfortable with too many questions about transsexuality as a concept and questions and what is between people's legs. The play suspends this question and moves on to the real story beneath, one would hope the audience was mature enough to do the same.

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