"Ash Girl" - Man Intense

So it's been awhile since my last post. But for good reason: namely school and work. I haven't had much time for a social life lately. School's pretty much taken over my life - and well, work. Work seems to have added some extra hours to my week.

But I did get a chance to see a play this past Friday with my mom. It was probably the only sane moment I had all weekend, but the show itself was pretty intense. "Ash Girl," a production presented by the St. Francis High School theater was not what I had expected and that's not to say it wasn't good; in fact, it was excellent. But I definitely hadn't prepared myself for such an emotionally draining evening.

The play is Timberlake Wertenbaker's take on the Cinderella story. Yes, there is a prince, a glass slipper, a step-family, and even the royal ball. But it's not a pumpkin - it's an acorn. And the true villains of the story are the Seven Deadly Sins (and Sadness) who inhabit the forest and slither and manipulate there way into the other characters.

The story is of Ash Girl's journey to find happiness with her kindred spirit found in the rather prideful teenage Prince Amir.

And man, is it hard to find happiness when one of the characters - Sadness and by far my favorite in the entire performance- is seeping unhappy thoughts in your mind without your knowledge. And by unhappy thoughts - I mean thoughts apathy, self-pity, self-loathing that eventually destroy one's soul and absolute desire to live.

Yes, this play touches on a very real subject. Suicide. Now not exactly something Disney would push for in its films.

The performance even had a brief encounter with the topic of rape - as Lust drives a man of the forest almost to madness and almost to the very edge of taking advantage of our young heroine as she travels the forest. Should I mention that the man in the woods is the long lost father of Ashy? Talk about intense subject matter.

As I mentioned earlier the most captivating character on the stage was Sadness herself, who showed so much poise, control, and absolute domination of not only the stage but of her prey, Ash Girl. It was terrifying to watch as Sadness manipulated the thoughts of Ash Girl as she fell to apathy in the forest. "Put your head in the mud. It will soon be over. I promise." Repeated. Over and over again. For a moment I was actually afraid for the life of the actress on stage - Sadness was that convincing. I was a little dissapointed in the Fairie's performance - as she played the counter-role of Sadness, granted Sadness had such presence on the stage it was probably difficult to keep up with her.

In the end all turns out well - except for a sliced toe and heel (well the stepsisters had to fit the shoe somehow, after all). But the villains still lingered in the forest waiting for the next time they can prey on humanity.

Overall. It was an excellent performance and had I the chance I would see it again. Too bad the last show was this past weekend.