Review: World Premiere DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP at Fresh Ink Theatre Company

Don't Give Up the Ship

Written by Laura Neill, Directed by Joshua Glenn-Kayden; Dramaturg, Jessica Foster; Stage Manager, Vivian Yee; Assistant Stage Manager, Julia Fioravanti; Scenic Design, Madelynne Hays; Lighting Design, Harrison Pearse Burke; Costume Design, Elizabeth Rocha; Sound Design, Andrew Duncan Will; Assistant Sound Design, Matthew Goode; Prop Design, Kelly Smith and Julia Fioravanti; Choreography, Rachael MacAskill

CAST: Alex Alexander, Hayley Spivey, Tonasia Jones, Louise Hamill, Robert Cope

Performances through February 25 by Fresh Ink Theatre Company at Plaza Black Box Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA; Box Office 617-933-8600 or www.freshinktheatre.org

If Donald Trump had the opportunity to attend the Fresh Ink Theatre Company production of the world premiere of Laura Neill's feminist play Don't Give Up the Ship, he'd be pretty peeved. After all, the story focuses on the main character waking up from a coma in the persona of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the War of 1812. What's wrong with that, you might ask? It's only that the main character's name is Diana, and, naturally enough, she is played by a woman (Alex Alexander). Therefore, in effect, Perry - a man - is played by Alex - a woman, which is totally antithetical to the preference of the commander-in-chief.

Expanding the masquerade, Diana also imagines that her two daughters Martha (Tonasia Jones) and Olive (Louise Hamill) are a pair of naval lieutenants, that her nurse Lizzie (Hayley Spivey) is Perry's wife Elizabeth, and that her ex-husband Jeff (Robert Cope) is the couple's four-year-old son. The gender-switching is easy to follow, but the narrative jumps back and forth between Diana as Perry during the early part of the 19th century, and the struggle faced by her family as they try to deal with her unusual condition in the present day. It is all a bit too jumbled for my taste, akin to watching television when a person with attention deficit disorder has control of the remote. Lighting designer Harrison Pearse Burke and Sound Designer Andrew Duncan Will help to distinguish what's what (or when's when), but the flow is interrupted by all the back and forth, some of which is needlessly repetitive.

Alexander is quite engaging, and conveys Perry's masculinity and leadership mien successfully. She also shows his softer side when romancing Elizabeth, and turns on a dime when she reverts to being Diana as mother, emoting her internal struggle vis-a-vis her sexuality. Her character and that of Lizzie benefit from being fleshed out more so than the clichéd ex-husband and one-dimensional daughters. Spivey is quietly effective throughout the play, and bursts out with a surprisingly vivid emotional explosion late in the action. Jones and Hamill are stuck with acting out their siblings' rivalry, and Cope has his best moments when channeling his inner four-year-old.

Playwright Neill is a member of the Class of 2019 in the MFA Playwriting Program at Boston University. Don't Give Up the Ship showcases her proclivities for women-driven stories, magical realism, and requiring the audience's suspension of disbelief. The play has been developed with Fresh Ink through a reading and workshop prior to the full production. Fresh Ink Theatre Company has a worthy mission of focusing on developing and producing new scripts with New England area playwrights. They have recently entered into a collaboration with Lyric Stage Company of Boston as New Play Development Partner. The still-evolving partnership will include the Lyric Stage providing facilities and marketing support to Fresh Ink and will allow the Lyric Stage access to Fresh Ink's growing roster of local talent. Consider it a win-win for the Boston theater community.

Photo credit: Emma Young (Alex Alexander)

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