Angela says that she’s rushing into the basement to escape a tornado. She’s talking to her phone while she waits for the danger to pass. She’s extremely articulate. It’s a very intimate moment between her and an unseen audience as Next Act Theatre presents a recorded video production of Lauren Gunderson’s Natural Shocks. Directed by Michael Cotey, the talented Jennifer Vosters serves as the female lead in the deeply captivating one-woman show. Originally appearing with the Third Avenue Playhouse earlier in the pandemic, the production is given new life with Next Act.
As honest and open as Angela tries to be, there are things that she’s only slowly settling-into about herself and the world around her. Gunderson’s script is dizzyingly layered with thematic characterization that explores the fragile human condition in a cripplingly enjoyable hour of drama. Vosters brilliantly finds the subtle fluctuations of nuance resting atop major vicissitudes in Angela’s inner life. Slight variations in tone and flashes of intellectual recognition wash over the narrative as Vosters treads through Angela’s stream-of-consciousness.
As truly engrossing as Vosters’ verbal performance is, it’s easy to overlook the fact that she’s also vividly portraying Angela’s state of mind via smartphone. From tight close-ups to gracefully nervous movements across the basement to a variety of different selfie angles, Vosters has a very clever grasp of how to almost perfectly frame a shot in a way that amplifies the emotional intensity of her character. Angela’s journey thoughtfully migrates around the incredibly confined space of a single basement. Vosters’ screen presence is deeply hypnotic as layer upon layer of Angela’s emotional reality is slowly and passionately revealed. One woman. One camera. One story. Cotey and Vosters’ Natural Shocks isn’t merely a good substitution for live theater—it’s one of the most unflinchingly intimate pieces of drama to be committed to video all year.
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Next Act Theatre presents Natural Shocks online May 24-June 13. For information, visit nextact.org.
