photo by Laura Rose
The cramped, airless room on the fourth floor of the Theater Row complex already felt cluttered as the audience squeezed in to see an opus of the same name. I call it an opus because, though billed as a solo play, it is really a comedic stand up comedy using props to lead in to each riff by veteran actress/comedian/writer Nancy Redman.

The set, a conglomeration of the elements of a clutterer’s life; artifacts, papers and other memorabilia current and ancient, littering a table top and spilling over on to the floor, is a painful reminder of the plight of the clutterer/hoarder or as she defines it . “evidence that I exist”.

Opening cleverly with an eviction notice for being a fire hazard, the tension sets in as its recipient has one week to “save her life”. Interruptions delay the process, a phone call from a guy she met at an Anonymous meeting “I go to so many anonymous groups everyone knows who I am”. Then a text message from Death – “Clean Up or Die” and we share her genuine terror as the clock is ticking and the clutter remains the same.

She valiantly reshuffles the mess into piles: Keep, maybe keep, maybe throwaway.

Of course each item chosen to discard becomes a remembrance of something she shares with us – be it her Hebrew school report card which led her to think of herself as The Messiah – keep that, or a “meditating bowl” recalls an erotic fantasy about the swami – keep that, audiotapes of her club comedy routines which lead her to try out and write down some clean jokes for an upcoming gig (“three doctors in one day – a senior’s triathelon”) – keep them, her dad’s fishing floaters – keep them, a job description leads her to reminiscing as a care giver to an Alzheimer’s patient – keep that. And. of course, newspaper clippings which she has to keep, and the old newspapers she picks up to discard and then starts reading.

In a telling point, as you leave you realize that, despite all her efforts, the clutter remained the same.

Considering she was directed by the great Austin Pendleton, Ms. Redman’s performance is at times rambling and repetitive, partly due to hit or miss sound cues, phone ringing, alarm going off, etc, and her performance seems as random as the clutter on her table, but perhaps that’s an attempt to keep it “real”.

While it fares better as stand up, there are stabbing moments of truth as we recognize the pattern that keeps many of us clutterers. And, rather than wiser for the experience, I fled the theater. After all, I had to clean up for the maid.

Solo Theater Team
Theater Row
410 West 42 Street
www.unitedsolo.org