DEAF WEST PRESENTS: THE SOLID LIFE OF SUGAR @ INNER CITY ART IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - REVIEW

DEAF WEST PRESENTS: THE SOLID LIFE OF SUGAR www.latheatrebites.com 7.9 out of 10 - Above Average! www.latheatrebites.com Candid, uninhibited and visceral. A Deaf couple’s relationship is revealed through their lovemaking in a startlingly intimate portrait of a marriage. Hello, I’m Patrick Chavis and you are listening to LA Theatre Bites Review of The Solid Life of Sugar Water Playing now at Inner City Arts in Downtown Los Angeles September 5th - October 13th, 2019. The Solid Life of Sugar Water gives you a raw, tragic and honest portrayal of a relationship. The ups, the downs and even bigger downs through the relationship of a deaf couple. The strong acting and voice over from the cast keep you and pull you in with some incredibly powerful moments. But it’s also attached to other moments and ideas that seem more interested in sounding poetic then actually doing anything interesting. The Solid Life of Sugar Water is the story of a Deaf Couple. Alice played by Sandra Mae Frank and her partner Phil played by Tad Cooley. We get to experience an intense amount of intimacy as we watch the couple share their intimate moments during sex. Their stories of how they met and also a very tragic situation in their relationship. This is my first show at the Deaf West Theatre and also my first deaf show I’ve ever seen, and I loved how blocking wise the show was set up. I’m not deaf and I don’t read sign much of the language being communicated in the way doesn’t really communicate much to me besides the beauty of form you can admire without fully understanding something like not being able to read Japanese but being able to appreciate the art in creating the symbols. Because nothing is spoken out loud by the actors but from somewhere else, you feel like you’re inside the actors heads the entire show. Even though these are deaf characters and they are communicating right in front of you with sign. Watching this show is like asking someone you just met, how they met, and they told you that and way, way more then you ever wanted to know. And in that way the show can feel a little heavy emotionally and feel monotonous. But it’s also very human because of this very reason. The set of the play is dimly lit bedroom inverted so the bed is facing the audience as if we are looking down at the room from the ceiling. This is an adult show as a good majority of the show is about sex and all those spicy details about this couple’s relationship. Why does this show work because you can feel the intimacy between Frank and Cooley. Sandra Mae Frank pulls off a heart wrenching and dramatic performance with phenomenal physical movement. I give the Solid Life of Sugar Water. A 7.9 out of 10 - It’s Above Average! Thank you for Listening!