CurtainUpTM
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
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New and Noteworthy in DC
Didactic Theatre's Beautiful Child...
Everybody has a secret and simply lives in denial in this Nicky Silver dark comedy. Delia
the mom is an alcoholic, Harry the dad is having an affair with his secretary Nan, and son
Isaac is a pedophile. Melding extreme wit with stark emotion, the play keeps you off-kilter.
You aren't sure if you should be laughing or horrified. To help you along, director Kristin
Cornwall's cast is quite good and pulls the humor out at every opportunity.
Cecil Baldwin is almost sympathetic as pedophile Isaac who seems to really believe his
8-year old student loves him. Steve Beall's distraught dad Harry seems together, but then
there are those odd moments of violence. And Karen Novak's Delia is a mother who you
wouldn't trust with your bottle of Skyy or Grey Goose since she's never far from the
blender. As the two parents rant about what went wrong, you kind of want to yell out "Just
go look in a mirror!"
Shining in smaller roles are Glee Murray and Maya Lynne Robinson. Ms. Murray is
entertainingly wide-eyed as the self-victimizing Nan who doesn't hit reality until the last few
minutes when she becomes the only character to choose self-empowerment. Ms.
Robinson's no nonsense Dr. Hilton is the hard-hitting and sarcastic voice of reason that
for the most part goes unheeded by almost everyone except Nan.
For a complete synopsis check out http://www.curtainup.com/beautifulchild.html. Didactic's
performing at the Warehouse Theater and you can purchase tickets at
http://didactictheatre.com.