Better This Way

Description
*** [THREE STARS] The program notes for "Better This Way," a play written collaboratively by the Deliberate Motion theater company, describe this three-person performance as a retelling of the myth of Persephone, incorporating video, music and choreography. My command of Greek myth is a little rusty, but as far as I could tell, Persephone is portrayed by two actresses (Shannon Fillion and Tina Nikolova), who frolic and fight with one bipolar boyfriend (Scott Troost, a stand-in for Hades, I'm guessing). While one character takes the mike to perform spoken-word poetry or sing a song, the others walk hand in hand, looking longingly at each other and (almost!) kissing. As tiresome as this may sound, "Better This Way" is never boring, thanks to a committed cast and the inclusion of a few good lines, convincingly delivered ("You don't fall out of love. You crawl out, while being pulled back"). But while the music, which ricochets from garbled backtracking to guitar-noodling noise to Enya-inspired massage-soundtrack material, is effective, the video--mostly of the female castmembers wandering through forests and abandoned factories--becomes a metaphor for the aimless plot. I kept hoping for a kicky dance number, but the choreography is mostly limited to slo-mo yoga moves and vigorous imaginary hand-scrubbing.--Chad Schlegel, Director of Online Content