In and Out of the Dark: depressing orgasms

Victoria: A tale of one woman’s battle with the darkness inside her, In and Out of the Dark is Scoli’s journey to reclaim her joy. Shantelle Simone Laundry acts as the judge, darkness and light in this physical performance piece and her quick and fluid movements keep your eye, but unfortunately not your attention. Her oddball, half-mime, half-clown make-up fizzles into absurdity and the over-acting of particular moments loses any tenderness the play might have had.

Despite a beautiful initial concept, In and Out swiftly descends into annoyingness. The power of depression is overturned by sexual overtones, specifically in Laundry’s moans and half-orgasm gasps that make you want to turn your head away and gag. Throughout most of the performance the strongest parts were simply imagery, most especially the way in which Scoli finds her mother and vanishes into her depression.

But whatever small shimmering of hope this show had, it was quite clear in the finale, the audience is not sure what they’re supposed to be looking at: the penetration of a vagina, or the defeat of darkness. If this show had of stuck to its first storyline and not given itself over to extensive use of sexual parallels, it might have sparkled.

For showtime information go here.