WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT (Nassim Soleimanpour, performed by Jennifer Lynn): Fringe Review 31.2

Excerpted by kind permission from Philly “Art” Blog

Driving to work one morning, I’d heard WHYY’s Jennifer Lynn mention she’d be hosting the performance of WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT. I experienced an immediate “I wonder what this disembodied voice will look like in real life” moment. She was awesome: dynamic, energetic, funny, self-effacing, and personable. One would think her day job was television or stage acting, rather than a behind-the-mic news reporter. She was in comically good spirits about the nature of the play (she’d never read the script before, so was constantly surprised at each turn of the page) and brought a lively delivery to each strange plot twist and authorial indulgence.

jennifer-lynn
WHYY’s Jennifer Lynn

WHITE RABBIT is told as a meta-narrative, sort of a stream-of-consciousness rambling via a playwright living in Iran. The general idea seemed to be that the author might never know if his work was being performed, or even escaping the walls of Iran—sort of a commentary on closed societies and the strangeness that happens when artwork transcends political barriers. These did feel like interesting concepts, but the execution was a mishmash of confusion and poorly joined ideas. The young author, has obvious interests in postmodern narrative, amalgam, and connecting with audiences—but desperately needs a strong-handed editor to force their ideas into a digestible, single-steam format. Without Lynn’s energy, this show would have been dead in the water. Unfortunately, even as a one-woman show with a great leading woman, a great performer wasn’t enough to save this one. Read the full review >> [Christ Church Neighborhood Church, 20 N. American Street] September 6-21, 2014; fringearts.com/white-rabbit-red-rabbit.

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