Dido of Idaho, now playing at Atwater Village, is yet more proof that Echo Theater Company really knows how to pick bold original scripts. And usually they have a heart of darkness coated with offbeat humor. Abby Rosebrock‘s latest one-act is no exception The essence concerns Nora (the always fascinating Alana Dietze), a young woman having an affair with a professor, Michael (Joby Earle), who happens to still be married to Crystal (Nicole DuPort). In the first scene, Michael comes out stark naked, as if to say he has no fear of his wife coming home, and that he is completely comfortable with the sexual tête-Ã -tête. Nora hasn’t done well with her life and she’s rather desperate, seeing very little potential ahead for herself. Which is why, no doubt, she drinks quite heavily: to drown the past and give courage to her rose-colored future. But she’s also righteous. When Michael tells of his marriage (soon to be over, he says), Nora rubs her dirty private parts on the pillow Michael shares with Crystal.
Alana Deitze and Joby Earle
When the former Idaho beauty queen Crystal arrives after Michael goes to work, she finds Nora asleep in Crystal and Michael’s marital bed. The following scene is the essence of what makes Dido of Idaho work — and also what I missed in the rest of the play. Rosebrock goes full-out Christopher Durang where the situation appears completely nonsensical yet you believe everything that’s happening. When Nora lies and says Michael let her stay there to escape an abusive relationship, Crystal goes full out life-coach, making cookies — real cookies, the smell wafts through the in-the-round playing area — offering feminist empowerment bromides with her new bestie. It all turns ugly when Crystal discovers Nora is not being abused, but is indeed a lying slattern … well, the cookie dough hits the fan. Rosebrock’s amusing and super-smart writing, pocked with nuance, has us hooked.
Alana Dietze and Nicole DuPort
Nora, bruised from a brutally shocking catfight with Crystal, skedaddles to the arms of her mother, Julie (Julie Dretzin), somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, looking for the warmth that wasn’t really there to begin with. While Julie’s new partner, Ethel (Elissa Middleton), seems a bit more open to counseling Nora, evangelical, estranged Julie isn’t so warm.
Julie Dretzin and Elissa Middleton
The play has had some shocking moments already — directed by Abigail Deser without hesitation — but another big twist awaits. It makes perfect sense, and even feels justified, but I felt like I had the rug pulled out from under me. Even with moments that are humorous, rock ’em-sock ’em, and poignant, the set-up isn’t as seamless as it should be. Ultimately, the playwrights asks, how do we become people we don’t recognize or like because of the trauma that we’ve faced? Yeah, it’s tough for Nora, because she’s caught in that contradiction between being an independent modern woman and still wanting domestic bliss with a partner. (If there’s any apparent correlation to the title. it’s this: that did the powerful Dido, who had everything, killed herself just because Aeneas didn’t love her.) Ultimately, it’s the craziness, sex, and violence that really work in the script (that is, when the actors aren’t speaking in a near-whisper). But in the end, the play ends up being more spurious and less meaningful about the effect cads like Michael and an unloving mother have on both women and men.
photos by Makela Yepez Photography
Dido of Idaho
Echo Theater Company
Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave.
Fri & Sat at 8; Sun at 4; and Mon at 8
ends on August 26, 2024
for tickets (pay-what-you-want thru $34), call 310-307-3753 or visit Echo Theater