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QUAKE: A Closet Love Story presented by New Edgecliff Theatre as part of the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. You can read the show description here.
As presented, QUAKE is a well-acted, cute romantic-comedy. But that for me is the disappointment. Being a Fringe Festival entry, I expected/wanted something a bit grittier.
For characters who have to come to terms with their lives ending trapped and starving, the couple (portrayed by Justin Baldwin and Lara Miller) seem incredibly well-adjusted throughout most of the production. Although the narrative asides between scenes details the power of an earthquake, and the effects of lack of food and water on the human body, these are not translated visually to the show.
Also, the flow of the show is interrupted by having the actors recite these asides live with a flashlight under their chin. Perhaps if they were recorded, it would give the actors time adjust their appearance in some way to better represent the physical and mental toll of their ordeal. As performed, they play ends with the actors looking nearly the same as they did at the beginning of their days-long ordeal.
Overall the show is perfectly fine, but I really wish stronger and bolder choices had been made to elevate the show.
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