R-E-B-E-C-C-A written and performed by Sara Farb (Theatre Passe Muraille backspace, 16 Ryerson). Runs to March 1. $17-$33. 416-504-7529. See Continuing. Rating: NNN
Sara Farb‘s younger sister Rebecca was born seven weeks premature and diagnosed as developmentally delayed. But what if she had grown up without that condition?
That’s the premise of Farb’s personal and occasionally affecting solo show, R-E-B-E-C-C-A, which looks at both women – we’ll call them Rebecca 1 and 2 – leading up to their 18th birthdays.
The 70-minute piece begins with video footage of Rebecca 1’s birthday party, in which she gets into an argument over wanting two pieces of cake with roses on them and then cuts from video to the stage, where she’s given a time-out. In a beautifully shaped monologue, she reveals that she knows that time-outs are for children, yet she’s now grown up.
There’s a musicality – a singsong rhythm – to her voice, and humour in her direct, honest pronouncements, and Farb’s enactment of Rebecca’s frustration is heartbreaking.
Switching to Rebecca 2 is less effective, especially since her story is awkwardly set up. She’s at a summer camp, depressed and engaged in self-mutilation. She goes on about World of Warcraft and having the astrological sign Cancer – the only indication that she’s who Rebecca 1, who was born in late May, would have been.
Director and dramaturge Richard Greenblatt could have clarified this.
The two women’s lives merge when Rebecca 1 goes to camp at the same time. They don’t comment on their physical similarity, but a connection between them is heightened by strong video projections designed by Cameron Davis.
Rebecca 2’s monologues aren’t very well written, and there’s a missed opportunity in not giving details about her family it would have been intriguing to see the women’s contrasting reactions to parents and sibling Sara.
But Farb’s focused performance imbues the play with warmth and heart, especially in the Rebecca 1 sections.
