WANTED, IF NOT WED by Jennifer Gillespie. Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace. July 8 at 1 pm, July 9 at 8:45 pm, July 10 at 4:30 pm. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Writer/performer Jennifer Gillespie’s show is based on a series of interviews she conducted with single women, and the results are funny, moving and profound.
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Gillespie captures the various layers of joy, loneliness, denial and acceptance in her subjects’ stories, careful to use every shading of voice (there are some cute accents) and body language to get to the woman’s essence. She mixes up the mood by illustrating mini romantic conversations between her two index fingers.
The piece could use a stronger structure, or perhaps more about the author’s own experiences. But it’s enough to hear a tale of a drunk bar patron’s rude comments, or a 71-year-old’s life-affirming story, as well as some disturbing statistics about single womanhood and poverty.
