Eastport

Mindful Productions—School of Contemporary Dancers

This show, a local production with a script by Laurie Duncan, features one of the better looking sets I have seen at a Fringe production, showing the interior of a drawing room of a former New England bed and breakfast, including comfy chairs, a wall with many old photographs, and a grandfather clock. The story takes place several decades ago, but exactly when is a little vague. The hotel proprietor (Muriel Hogue), still grieving the loss of her husband Ned many years earlier, lives alone on this property. Out of the blue on a blustery winter evening a mysterious man named George (Harry Nelkin) shows up, dressed up like Colonel Sanders and wanting a room.

The two characters spend a lot of time sitting and talking (more movement would have been welcome), with George drinking copious amounts of gin. The proprietor can’t understand how George arrived at the hotel, with all means of transportation currently inaccessible. She tells him, “You don’t add up.” No matter what he says, he can’t explain his appearance and she becomes increasingly anxious, asking him to leave. But he doesn’t leave. He continues to talk, revealing more and more knowledge of her life with her late husband. Is he himself her ex-husband, somehow disguised or altered after all these years? That was my first thought, but the script never seems to veer in that direction. The conflict being acted out is interesting to watch. Unfortunately, even though there is eventually a revelation about who this man really is, it was not clear to me.

Konrad Antony