E-Ticket to Ride?

by Jack Craib New Rep Reviewer

Approaching a one-person show is a bit like a first encounter with an unfamiliar rollercoaster; will the ride seem to be over in 2.5 seconds like a flash or will it seem more like two and a half hours of an endurance contest? The perceived length depends greatly on the depth of the performance given by the soloist and to what degree insightful direction overcomes the obstacles inherent in this limited (yet often freeing) form. It also depends, of course, on the work's content and how its author provides sufficient variety, mystery and tension. This is a tall order given the typical limitations of a performance piece. Without the benefit of supporting players to provide conflict, most often without set designs that enhance context, and fundamentally without the traditional arc of a more structured drama, there has to be a lot of naked courage on display.
Fortunately for New Rep theatergoers, the current production of author Lisa Kron's autobiographical "2.5 Minute Ride" succeeds in delivering the goods. As with all such solo acting efforts, what transpires is less a play in the strict sense and more of a series of vignettes, less like a novel and more like an interrelated grouping of short stories. And what a solo performance this is. Local actress Adrianne Krstansky, with very few exceptions that will undoubtedly be overcome when she has had time to grow into the part even more, conveys the humor and the pathos of a woman whose family has had more than its share of both good times and sorrow. Under New Rep alumna M. Bevan O'Gara's direction, both subtle and searing, the title's allusion to a brief ride on a rollercoaster is certainly apt.
The first thing one notices upon entering the intimate Black Box Theater is the calliope music, preparing the audience for what is to come. As the first scene opens, theatergoers find themselves at a slide lecture in which no images appear on the screen but are described in detail by the sole character, a perfect illustration of the true essence of acting, namely seeing through the eyes of the performer. Whether it's her family's dysfunctional visits to a Michigan amusement park, her visit with her father to the concentration camp where her father's parents died, or her totally unexpected reaction to a family wedding as half of a gay couple of bridesmaids, this device works brilliantly. The scenes at Auschwitz are particularly gripping in a very surprising way when the simple act of misplacing something leads to terror.
It's not "Belle of Amherst", "Mark Twain Tonight" or "I Am My Own Wife", but this is one memorable ride. If this were another amusement park, Disneyland in the old days, this would surely be an E-ticket.