Posted: 9/16/15 at 10:32pm
Saw this tonight and mostly liked it. Definitely one of the better shows to play at the Roundabout Underground space. I enjoyed Mamie Gummer's performance (always a delight as the faux sweet and naive lawyer on TGW). She is given a rather intense and uncomfortable role and I felt that she really nailed the more dramatic moments. The play overall was better when it dealt with the anguish and struggle of the protagonist rather than when it went for some humor.
Gummer plays a young vet who was in the middle of her third tour in Afghanistan when she met with an IED explosion and suffered burns on half her body. The make up job was excellent and quite realistic- it gave the appearance of skin grafts on half her face and one arm, damage to her hair, etc. Her doctor was attempting to use a virtual video game type therapy and the play alternates between the therapy sessions and her struggles to readjust to life at home and with a former lover. The ideas presented are strong, but the dialogue was sometimes clumsy and forced. For example, early one Gummer was given a scratch up lotto game by her sister. She scratched it off and asked her sister to read what it said. The sister responded that she won another card. Is that a good thing? Gummer asked. Well sure, it means you get a second chance.
But other scenes, especially in the second half (the runtime is a quick 80 minutes), had stronger dialogue, and there were some nice moments and small surprises to be found. As is so often the case, less is more, and no scene was more affecting that when Gummer silently tried to change her outfit, frustration mounting as the pain rippled through her body each time clothing brushed against her skin.
