I saw Raped Clarity at the Gemini and was fairly impressed with the space and how they use it. When you first enter, you arrive at a very professional ticket and snack counter, and paintings and photographs by a local artist adorn the walls. I enjoyed a nice Malbec while surveying the works, which seemed to exemplify a simple, contemporary style infused with elements of pop culture - such as you would find in greeting cards and cartoons. Some of them were quite clever, and even the photographs somehow speak to the modern style and popular ambitions of this theatre's proprietor.
Despite my fine first impression, there were quite a few problems. Seating is unfortunately folding, metal chairs - but at least they were the padded kind. The stage itself was quite good - raised a foot or so above the floor, with adequate space and entrance portals, and decent sound - but the lighting was barely adequate and could not possibly be useful in most, true theatrical productions. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of Raped Clarity was marred by the lack of quality lighting.
Finally, the script itself has problems, with incongruities that tend to distract one's attention as the action unfolds. Glaring examples include an inconsistent, unprofessional, and even unethical psychologist character. If this were a minor, peripheral character, perhaps the problem would not exist or it might be insignificant, but this is a central character that helps drive the action throughout the heroine's journey. Some minor problems with props may have simply been mistakes during the particular performance I attended, and these might not necessarily be blocking and choreography errors.
The dialogue, in general, is problematic, with some vocabulary and word choices that seem inconsistent with the characters who deliver them and the situations in which they are delivered.
By far the best performance in this production was that of the heroine's father, an archetypal southern working man and alcoholic. This character functioned as both an anti-hero and comic relief, and was oddly endearing. The heroine's mother was also a good performance, and contributed some fine, comic moments, but the character was fraught with some of the aforementioned dialogue problems.
Raped Clarity is a work in progress and may very well be autobiographical, representing the author's sorting out of her own psyche after experiencing rape. I find, in fact, that the only way that I can reconcile the various characters and situations of this play is to consider them as symbolical. Indeed, I conclude that each character and situation represents an aspect of the heroine's - and perhaps the author's - own mind as she works toward recovery after a violent rape. This is the only way Raped Clarity makes any sense to me. read more
