Fringe, Reviewed: Susan's Undoing
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.
An ex-ballerina talks about battling breast cancer.
[ theater ]
Susan's Undoing by Susan Chase
Attended: Sept. 12, 7 p.m., Studio 1831. Runs through Sept. 21.
Breast cancer survivor Susan Chase climbs, dangles, and literally defies gravity in her duel with death.
WE THINK:
Middle-age people are halfway between life and death; having a child is ballast on the side of life. Americans watch so many medical shows, it may not even be possible to be a patient and not play the part of some E.R. or House character. And, when a doctor says 'Let's go over the results,' the results are probably not good.
These are just a few of many really interesting things ex-ballerina Susan Chase has to say about her experience battling breast cancer. If only she spent more of her 70-minute solo show talking and less of it dancing blindfolded, scaling a ladder, dangling from ropes and miming her struggle with a tube of lipstick and a heavy box for OBVIOUSLY IMPORTANT SYMBOLIC but inexplicable (at least to me) reasons. The one exception to my wish for more talky realism: The feel-good and theatrically magic Tinkerbell-like moment when she asks the audience to put their hands together and clap to make her live.
