This show was reviewed during previews.
Some hour-long shows at the Fringe are the longest hour-long shows you’ll ever see. Pam has a twitch only she can see. She’s tried to turn to medicine, but now the only thing that’s gone is her ability to dream. It doesn’t help that her son is missing. Joslyn defreece stars in Liliana Padilla’s bland exploration of grief and mental health. Were this monologue a radio play, we wouldn’t be missing out on anything. Defreece sits blankly on a high back armchair, or circles it, doing both sides of a conversation frantically, meeting a collection of oddball characters that lead nowhere.
It’s difficult to say what the show is about. There are strands of parental failure, spiritual distress, motherhood, the refusal to accept estrangement, forgiveness, and shame, but none of these topics and emotions is explored in any substantial way to warrant a play. Jack Ferver’s direction doesn’t ease its case. The attempts at movement are arbitrary and unnatural, much like the cognitive junctions of the script, which are obscure and inscrutable. We lose track of who’s speaking, why, where, never truly knowing why it’s relevant. Mostly, we just get to see an afflicted, disturbed, ageing woman who isn’t being given the support she would need.
Padilla’s writing tries to be profound, including brief musings on the meaning of personal relationships, the loss of faith, cruelty, and violence among its many tangents, but it’s all rather aimless. Unfortunately, it also lacks any hint of dramatic tension. There’s something very uncanny valley about the character—which is not a problem per se, if it was part of the schtick. Pam has seemingly forgotten how to function in society and constantly victimises herself, but this just seems to be a byproduct of the story rather than a plot point of any kind. As it is Twitch would need a complete overhaul to please us.
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