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Actress and former model
Susanna Brisk chronicles her take on the well-worn territory of motherhood in this world premiere, one-woman show.
Set in a small theatre at the Edgemar complex, it feels as though Brisk is talking directly to each audience member, and indeed, even makes herself a health drink in a blender in the shared intimacy of her small apartment on stage.
Fast paced and intense, the actress and former model describes every situation with her body as well as with words to tell her story that includes the well-known territory of motherhood, such as getting rid of mommy's "baby fat", sleep deprivation and enduring the company of two human beings under the age of two around the clock.
What is added here is Susanna’s list of the typical contemporary and typically Westside Los Angeles therapies she sought out and experienced to get rid of these problems and her own emotional baggage. The list is comprehensive and complete. There is the physical ( massage to baby carriage walking), the psychological (psychiatrist to Oprah Winfrey’s newest idol, Eckhart Tolle, which drew an extra giggle and gasp of recognition from the audience) and of course the transition from her idealized version of natural childbirth to the less painful method of Caesarean.
The rest of Brisk’s list making rivals George Carlin’s but it is subject matter that has been covered before not only on stage, but in books and in film. George knew how to stretch the edges of that list into absurdity without letting go of the reality of it, and also take his time with delivery to let what he was sharing with the audience sink in. Brisk may well take a lesson from his work.
Brisk has the flexible body of a rubber doll with long, wild, wiry red hair, the physicality of an energizer bunny and the intellect of a stage Einstein. What’s missing during most of the show is Susanna’s personal story that she herself claims leads to a redemptive end. But even when Susanna claims she has almost mastered motherhood’s demands to the extent of having a third child, there is no joy in Mudville. She runs up against wall after wall of angst and in the end seems to sit in a corner and make the best of it.
And her personal story is a doozy. Susanna glosses over her background as a Jewish Australian Princess, which she acted out in “JAP: Jewish Australian Princess.” Her family arrived down under from Estonia, then part of the Soviet Union, and Susanna speaks fluent Russian as well as four other languages. Her accents are flawless and tossed off with the flair of the best comic-artists. She is easily in the company of masters Bronson Pinchot or Robin Williams in this area.
The most fun example in the show arrives when Brisk becomes her own cigarette-smoking, sarcastic Eastern European mother – with the perfect accent and attitude, of course. Mocking her mother, eyes narrowed, in a slouch with her hand behind her back, pushing her stomach out, she is – a pregnant woman. Every brief time Susanna became her mother, she becomes another version of herself, and you want to yell out “keep going!” She is brilliant, real and personal. The true heart of the story in “Mamafied” is really about Susanna and her mother, which could she then extend to her own children, who are only superficially described.
Susanna's turn as a Hollywood musical housewife and Russian nanny agent did not work as well because they were so generic they didn’t lend themselves to her story.
Brisk’s showstopper set piece proves her depth, originality and wonderful humor. In it, Susanna is the announcer calling out “A Kentucky Derby Race,” with the horses being her emotions as she grew up and into motherhood. It is a beautiful contradiction to the everyday monotony of the subject of motherhood, filled with the same excitement and giddiness, as the Ascot Race in “My Fair Lady ” (with its deadpan spectators contrasting to the race itself). It could be watched over and over because the words come so fast, it becomes a song to continue to deciper with each performance. Th is “race” could well be Susanna’s signature, it is that funny, insightful and certainly touches all the raw spots she missed elsewhere.
The show was produced by close friends, many of them in the Actor’s Gang as noted in the program, and this happy collaboration could be felt. The way the show came about is that after having her two sons less than a year apart, she began writing magazine articles and a book about motherhood. Tim Robbins and members of both stage groups, helped Susanna develop the material into a show with their encouragement.
Michelle Danner, Executive Artistic Director of the
Edgemar Center for the Arts, directed and
Alexandra Guarnieri produced. Will Pellegrini serves as dramaturge. Francois Pierre Couture did the scenic design that moved from Susanna’s apartment to a clever frosted class elevator from which the star could change clothes and move into her several characters. A real swing on one side of the stage transported Brisk back to her childhood or idealized version of marriage.
With a few touches here and there,
Susanna Brisk can more her story of
motherhood from her small apartment out and into the bigger world.
"Mamafied" runs through August 3, 2008
Edgemar Center for the Arts, 2437 Main Street, Santa Monica, 90405
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30, Sunday at 7:30.
Admission: $25. Students and seniors $15. Group discounts available.
$5 underground parking
Reservations: (310) 392-7327.
Some adult content.
Information: www.edgemarcenter.org, www.mamfied.com
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