Review: ESCAPE ROOM, LONGER THAN FOREVER, and MORE at The Orlando Fringe Festival

ESCAPE ROOM: IT’S JUST A GAME (Savoy Orlando)

Written by Katie Thayer and Joanna Rannelli

Performed by Hunter Rogers and Joanna Rannelli

Directed by Michael Knight

The typical 60-minute structure of a fringe festival show is played with and adapted in a lot of ways, but ESCAPE ROOM takes it in an immersive direction, trapping us in the titular space along with the characters. It’s just a two-person game here, as both characters are flying solo after their significant others are wrapped up at work. The script gets a very slow start; bickering is not fun to do, it’s even less fun to watch, and it does not make for very interesting character interactions. In much the same vein, an escape room is very fun to do, but it’s not very fun to watch without participating. The foreshadowing of underlying secrets is about as subtle as a flashing neon sign—but thankfully, once the characters are finally honest with one another, the script cracks open and becomes much more engaging. Conflict gets beneath surface level, and the parallels to the escape room’s mysteries begin to make sense. Even with “Dreamgirls” blaring on the other side of the wall from a drag brunch this afternoon, Rogers and Rannelli didn’t waver and deliver committed performances and continually make strong choices on stage, even when the material isn’t as robust. Just like the real thing, ESCAPE ROOM starts off a bit frustrating, but results in a satisfying conclusion once all of the clues fall into place.

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MY LIFE AS AN “INSPIRATIONAL PORN” STAR (Scarlet Venue)

Written and Performed by Gabrielle Leonore

Production Design and Stage Management by Kay Mitchel

Gabrielle’s Leonore’s placement of the quotation marks in her title is cleverly deceptive. She plays the sex kitten part well, clad in boudoir attire, but it’s all a clever ruse. This hour-long one-woman show in the Scarlet Venue is not, as one would think, about a traditional porn star that is “inspirational”—no, here, Leonore is playing on the phrase “inspiration porn,” which is the objectification of disabled people as inspiration to non-disabled people. Leonore has autism, (but she’s hot, so it’s more like “hot-ism,” she tells us) and in this charmingly candid and very genuine look back at her life so far, she shares with the audience what that has meant to her personally, romantically, and professionally. While some sections of the show verge on being an autobiography read aloud, Leonore’s delivery is so earnest that it’s easy to forgive. With the help of some low-tech but witty projections, Leonore also takes us through a quick, pertinent history of autism diagnoses (no surprises here, it’s phallocentric) and looks at the present as well, with the advent of social media and self-diagnosing. MY LIFE AS AN “INSPIRATIONAL PORN” STAR is endearing, unexpected, and a pleasant surprise.

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AUTOMATIC ORCHESTRA (Blue Venue)

Created by Irene L. Pynn

Upon entering the Blue Venue for a performance of AUTOMATIC ORCHESTRA, you’re likely to be greeted by the sounds of a orchestra warming up—but it’s going to sound unlike the warm hum and glow that you may be used to. Kazoos, pots and pans, more kazoos, tiny xylophones, and other toy instruments that have been distributed screech and tinkle before the audience is corralled and given the lowdown. This is a harmless surrealist piece, based on the Alfred Tennyson poem, “The Lady of Shallot” and featuring no dialogue whatsoever as the actors pantomime the full hour; audience members have free reign to create whatever score (and sound effects) that they wish to with their instruments. The idea is “meant to create a kind of spiritual link among every person present, through improvised music.” In reality, this is a fun family experience—children who like to participate and cause a little bit of chaos will love it—but a "spiritual link” never quite connected on Sunday. Rather than an improvised score, the show was subsequently accompanied by an overstimulating cacophony that grew tiresome after the first five minutes but was sustained for fifty-five more. Interestingly, when a melody did arise, it was never an original one—the majority of them were provided by some Star Wars fans sitting nearby, blaring “Duel of the Fates” and “The Imperial March” on kazoos. As for the events on stage, the plot was relatively unclear. But perhaps, all things considered, that is unimportant. AUTOMATIC ORCHESTRA is audacious, but it doesn’t quite account for what can happen when something automatic breaks down.

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LONGER THAN FOREVER: QUEER UP 2 (Savoy Orlando)

Written by Natalie Anne Doliner / Directed by Fred Berning, Jr.

Musical Direction by Ned Wilkinson

It’s always interesting to see a sequel when you haven’t seen the original installment, but in the case of LONGER THAN FOREVER, Natalie Anne Doliner makes it immediately clear that this is a different story, and one that doesn’t need the context of the first. This is the story of Doliner’s parents: their lives before meeting, how they met, and everything thereafter. Primarily told through monologues delivered by Kate O’Neal (mother) and James Berkley (father), musical interludes compliment the familial history, punctuated by a particularly gorgeous three-part arrangement of “100 Years” by Five for Fighting. These are three powerful voices, and one sincerely wishes for more musical numbers purely to have the pleasure of listening to them longer. Doliner draws a fascinating parallel between her journey as a queer person and her mother’s journey as a Jewish American in the mid-century; both took time to come into the power derived from the very thing that sets them apart. There’s a clever trick to the structure of the monologues akin to The Last Five Years that isn’t apparent until it suddenly, heartbreakingly, is. LONGER THAN FOREVER makes the bold statement that you don’t have to be gay to “queer up”—just a little different.

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AWAKEN (Pink Venue)

Emergence Dance Company

Cindy Heen, Creative Director

Emergence Dance Company is experimenting a bit in the Pink Venue—with AWAKEN, a journey through the progression of grief splashes across the stage in a series of abstract vignettes. There’s little “plot” to be found here—it’s lovely to watch, but do not expect to have anything explained. Mars Powers (Ringleader) is the only performer who speaks, delivering spoken word poetry that assuredly means much to them, but comes across as a bit of an avant-garde exercise in phonetic texture. What AWAKEN lacks in plot clarity it more than makes up for in talent and technical prowess of the performers. Each is stellar, none more so than Jasper Arrigo as the unnamed “Lead Character”. Arrigo’s movement is mesmerizing across the entire spectrum of genres on display here; from ballet to contemporary to clowning, there’s a little bit of a lot to see. The beauty and athleticism that the entire cast brings to the stage helps this show climb out of pretentious territory and into something that catches a glimmer of a conclusive metaphor in the end. The primary aim here does not seem to be providing a linear experience so much as an emotional catharsis. While AWAKEN doesn’t necessarily present a traditionally accessible story, it also doesn’t tell you how to feel, sometimes leaving you confused and sometimes leaving you touched. And isn’t that grief?

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