Review: Capital Fringe Festival's MARY a Touching Examinaiton of a Teacher's Life

The Capital Fringe Festival, now thankfully revived in Georgetown, has always been a place for new artists, a space where you can step out into the footlights with new material, new stories. They don't have to be perfect, they don't have to fit into some preconceived niche, they simply need to breathe and stand on their own. That's what Fringe is for, for many of us.

Jo Williamson's one-woman show, "Mary," is by turns a desultory affair, a tale of a high school English teacher with a varied career pattern, and a variety of relationships with men. Mary's choices and her journey, rooted in her identity and her understanding of the world around her, may seem less than climactic. There are no Hollywood endings here, not even a Jane Austen ending in sight; but there is still lots to ponder.

Williamson intersperses her monologue/travelogue with recordings from people of faith, people in a variety of religious traditions-traditions that her character, Mary, simply cannot bring herself to connect with. Her opportunities for marriage are there, but Mary's confronted with the question: what is more important, her sense of herself, or her desire to fit into whatever life that potential partner might have in mind for her? It's a story as old as relationships, given a unique take here.

Of course, within the confines of a 60-minute time slot there's only so much to tell, but Mary's story would benefit from a greater fleshing out of her upbringing, and herself. This play relies so heavily on her relationships with men that you're left hoping to hear more about her.

Running Time: 50 minutes without Intermission.

Mary runs as a part of the Capital Fringe Festival, 2022, at 3222 M St. NW (formerly Forever 21 Georgetown) through Sunday, July 24.

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