It is the shoes! It is the shoes, my sole...!!!

Thank you for indulging me in a little parodying of Shakespeare.

Maybe if I was playing Desdemona, I wouldn't mind suffering for my art. But getting a bad enough back to send me to the doctor because for less than an hour I appear onstage in high heels as Mrs. Holly in "Suddenly Last Summer" is not my idea of a good enough reason to suffer.

And all this for a role that the Albuquerque Journal reviewer described as being played as a "Dickensian" grotesque!!!!
Here, read the Journal article for yourself.

"Playwright Channeled Life..." ABQ Journal Review

I can't say I totally disagree with the reviewer, although it is my job as an actor to disagree with a bad review. But the truth is that I think that that's exactly how the director directed my "son" and me to act. As caricatures - down to very precise mannerisms. Fred Franklin wasn't wanting to make us caricatures - he says there are people he knows personally who act this way - but I'm afraid they play to the audience as caricatures.

Funnily enough, though, the night before the review came out - the first night (Thursday) of our second week of performances - I decided I could no longer keep my integrity as an actor and do what is false onstage. Without changing drastically, I toned down the "mannerisms" I thought were too fake and tried to play her - Mrs. Holly - as real as possible within the scope of the director had created. Although lots went wrong with the evening technically, it was my best night.

Then, last night, there seemed to be a subtle shift with all the characters in the play. We all seemed to be "more real."

The shoes are still killing me, though.