`ORANGE' IS THE COLOR OF PASSION'S PAIN.Byline: Katherine Karlin Correspondent If you've ever overheard a stranger articulate real, larger-than-life emotion someone on a cell phone begging for a reconciliation, say, or a couple breaking up in a restaurant you know how creepily compelling other people's lives can be at their messiest. We think of voyeurism Voyeurism See also Eavesdropping. Actaeon turned into stag for watching Artemis bathe. [Gk. Myth.: Leach, 8] elders of Babylon watch Susanna bathe. as peeking at sex acts, but rage, despair and longing reveal others at their most intimate. This is the stuff of high drama, and it's striking how rarely we see these most personal moments turned inside out for the stage. Craig Wright's awkwardly titled "Orange Flower Water Orange flower water is a clear, perfumy distillation of fresh bitter-orange blossoms, this essential water is used in many Mediterranean dessert dishes, and in some cocktails, such as the Ramos Gin Fizz. " is about two couples whose lives are changed forever by an affair. Wright's characters are ordinary people in the grips of outsize out·size n. 1. An unusual size, especially a very large size. 2. A garment of unusual size. adj. also out·sized Unusually large, weighty, or extensive. passions: David (played by Robert Poe) is a gentle pharmacist in a small Minnesota town; he's married to Cathy (Ann Noble), a music teacher. David falls in love with Beth (Julie Quinn) their kids play on the same soccer team whose loutish lout·ish adj. Having the characteristics of a lout; awkward, stupid, and boorish. lout  ish·ly adv. husband, Brad (Tim Sullens Sullens is a municipality of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, located in the district of Cossonay. ) works in the local video store (he knows a marriage is in trouble when a husband caves to his wife's choice of a Merchant-Ivory film). At first glance it's the design of a soap opera soap opera Broadcast serial drama, characterized by a permanent cast of actors, a continuing story, tangled interpersonal situations, and a melodramatic or sentimental style. , but Wright, director Carri Sullens and this fearless cast electrify e·lec·tri·fy tr.v. e·lec·tri·fied, e·lec·tri·fy·ing, e·lec·tri·fies 1. To produce electric charge on or in (a conductor). 2. a. this domestic drama (and I do mean domestic: Most of the scenes take place in and around a bed). Nobody turns out to be exactly what we expect. David, the soul of tranquility, harbors profound resentment toward his family, while the macho boor Brad has deep reserves of tenderness. The two women struggle to maintain their maternal dignity in this vortex of vulnerability. The sore point of the play is the title, and not because it's hard to say. Orange flower water appears in Beth's dream of a happier existence. It's the sweet aroma that pervades the complexity of life, and it strikes the work's only sentimental note. Wright is better at scenes like the angry, ugly sex between a fully dressed Cathy and David an exhibition so raw it's almost unbearable, and proof that stripping away our emotional armor, not our clothes, leaves us most naked. ORANGE FLOWER WATER - Three stars Where: Little Victory Theatre Center, 3324 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank. When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday; through April. Tickets: $20 to 28; call (818) 841-5422. In a nutshell: When big passions happen to normal people. |
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