Pavement Group’s fracture/mechanics Doesn’t Coalesce Enough To Fracture

By Julienne Bilker in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 16, 2009 9:20PM

In fracture/mechanics, a twenty-something woman (Cyd Blakewell) struggles with sexuality, potential alcoholism and wide variety of relationships - there are one-night stands, friends with benefits, and a few guys who seem suspiciously like boyfriends. The conflicts and debates that arise are familiar to anyone who has lived through college - we expected to see specific characters to which the twenty/thirty-something audience could relate, mixed in with some fresh perspective. Unfortunately Mallery Avidon’s script takes a vague, winding path through well-worn territory.

Before we get back into the not-so-good, here’s the good. There are some cute one-liners. The set, designed by Jeremy Smith, makes great use of the space - the entire play takes place in/on/around one bed, which spins and changes sheets to imply different bedrooms. Last but not least, the ensemble cast does a solid job with what they’re given. Blakewell does her best to make a relatively unsympathetic character someone we should care about and want to end up happy.

There is, ultimately, a happy ending, but it’s unnecessarily long and trite. The last 20 minutes of the play could be implied in one short scene - although there is already a dizzying amount of short scenes, as none lasts longer than maybe three minutes. The program notes that “fracture mechanics is the study of how things break.” However, snapshot scenes and ambiguously-drawn characters mean the play is so fractured from the beginning that there is no foundation to break. Any substantive information that sheds light on the young woman’s road to her disjointed life comes too late to expect the audience to emotionally invest in her.

fracture/mechanics, thru June 27, Pavement Group at Red Tape Theatre, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 621 W. Belmont. Tickets $15 suggested donation, 312-733-9283.