Keble’s Cuppers performance of “Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness” could be described as ‘amazing’ in the way it shows how, “Every act of creativity is an amazing thing,” as the narrator Gant says at the end. It turns pimples into pearls. The main character Sanzonetta is seen with a mask covered with acne. She is tempted to pop them, wishing to get rid of them. To her surprise, at the first pop of a pimple, a pearl comes flying out, and her envious sister soon makes a business out of her previous misery.
I wish my puberty went so well, even if the wealthy teenager’s husband leaves her for an oyster. It’s her bursting pimples that attract him in the first place. That is, they attract him because they pour forth pearls, instead of “cheese.” But the girl who’s lucky enough to get the “shallow man,” also has a sister who tries to get her man by growing a pimple larger than hers, so I guess it’s fair. However, instead of pearls, nothing but brains burst forth. In a repulsive way, the themes of beauty and wealth are played with, finding the beauty in acne and the shallowness in requiring riches.
Overall, it seemed a good choice for a play that is only suppose to be around twenty minutes long, picking the best part of the actual full production. Even though the performers rushed through some scenes, the audience easily understood the simple story line and the speed just ended up increasing the humor.
However, the ensemble seemed to be confused at what their job was. It wasn’t clear if they were just people randomly pulled from the audience. If so, their confusion was slightly distracting while so much was going on, making the set up of some scenes sloppy. However, the principle players held attention in their commanding grace of the stage and the acting was strong. I believed each of the characters as they each showed their faults to the audience —from pimpled face to greediness and could both laugh and feel sick at the thought.
Despite some lines that were stumbled over, Keble did a fabulous job this year, making their performance come alive with painted white faces, marvelous costumes, and elaborate humor. It made me wish I could watch this performance as a full-blown staged production with the same actors and costumes. I wanted more, and that’s a good thing.
