Homebody by Tony Kushner
The opening monologue of what eventually became the play HOMEBODY/KABUL was performed at New City Theatre by Mary Ewald. The length of the monologue was impressive-70 minutes, and the performance and writing were quite spectacular. The character, a conventional late-middle aged British housewife and mother reads an out-dated tourist guide to Afghanistan and voices her inner-monologue to the audience. Needless to say, while speaking to no-one in particular, the monologue jumps from the past to the present, from Afganistan to London, from the highly personal to the notoriously public. The writing itself has some beautiful imagery and language, the performance by Ms. Ewald was nothing short of a tour-de-force; however, the direction, by John Kazanjian, lagged a bit. Although Ms. Ewald did keep the audience’s attention for a full 70- minutes and milked the lines for every inch of humor available, the director had her seated for the whole time, which strained the audience’s concentration.
All in all, Homebody, was really worth seeing, both for the virtuoso writing and the performance. And it was not without some cultural and political insights.
Homebody Tony Kushner, New City Theatre, 1404-18th Avenue. At Union Street, Central District. 8 pm. Fri and Sat www.brownpapertickets.com