Review: Falling Open (Fringe)

by Estelle Rosen

The blurb on this play asks what stories, what secrets, would your childhood doll tell? My childhood didn't include a doll to share secrets with, which is perhaps why the concept seemed foreign to me. But you don't have to have memories of a doll to appreciate this play.

Narrated by a living doll, we are enveloped into a family’s sexual abuse experience. Full marks to Lib Spry's direction for handling a difficult subject with sensibility and heart.

One quibble;  it took a bit too long to get to the essence of the story. But that’s a minor issue when taking into account Luna Allison’s excellent performance. One doesn’t often have the opportunity to see such a well-rounded, well-executed interpretation.

Falling Open has been performed in traditional theatre spaces in Ottawa but that it is being presented in a home brought an intimacy that would be difficult to match in a theatre venue. 

There is a sense throughout of trying to learn more about the what and why of sexual abuse.

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