Fringe, Reviewed: Closure
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
A beautiful young woman dressed in black pensively contemplates a jacket.
Closure by Aleksandra Berczynski & MB Grupa Realizacji
ATTENDED: Thu., Sept. 4, 7 p.m., PII Gallery; closes Wed., Sept. 10, 7 p.m.
Closure is Aleksandra Berczynski’s latest mono-drama based upon the modern day conflicts found in her reality.
WE THINK: Closure is my first Berczynski. She’s established a Fringe presence with 20-minute minimalist dramas like How to Make Potato Salad (2013), Tomorrow I Will Start a New Life (2012), Life Is a Dream (2009) and How Do I Love Me? (2008). There’s no lack of ambition in what she does.
Taken on its own merits, however, Closure is an intriguing puzzle: a beautiful young woman dressed in black pensively contemplates a jacket. She deliberately shreds it into a mess of scraps. Meanwhile, a video of her alone in a kitchen, making a breakfast of tea and oatmeal, is projected on a portable screen.
It’s a bleak business, not enlivened or explained by the video’s accompanying song in Polish. The title, and her eventual exit with the jacket’s remains in a trash bag, suggest a woman moving on from a bad relationship.
Minutes later, on the street, I recall the old unattributed saying about speeches: They should be like a lady’s dress, long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be interesting. I’m not sure the subject was covered, but it was brief enough to hold my interest.
