Unless the specific point was to leave its audience in the same state of murky dementia that seems to beset the play’s characters, Lee Blessing’s drama “A Body of Water” practically drowns under the weight of its own Kafkaesque pretentiousness.
In sort of a dour variation on Bill Murray’s movie comedy “Groundhog Day,” if not an episode of TV’s “The Twilight Zone,” Avis and Moss (or so they’re called) are somehow doomed to wake each and every morning not knowing who or where they are.
Are they a married couple or total strangers? Are they at home or visiting a friend’s house? For all of their cryptic conversations in search of a clue, any answers are ultimately irrelevant, because they’ll be starting over tomorrow, anyway, and going through the whole “incomprehensible routine” again.
Perhaps the arrival of a young woman named Wren will help unlock the mystery. Or maybe not. At different times, she could be a nurse, their daughter or even a member of the legal team that’s defending them on charges of a grisly murder.
Long before Blessing’s play eventually forces us to speculate about whether Avis and Moss are living or dead, for that matter, your patience and interest might be exhausted.
Director Freddie Ashley’s polished but plodding Aurora Theatre staging casts real-life husband and wife Mark and Tess Malis Kincaid as Moss and Avis. Although they are two of Atlanta’s most regularly employed actors, they don’t often work together, and “A Body of Water” is hardly the special occasion it ought to be.
Individually, he fares a little better than she does. Hers is probably the flashier role, but we’ve basically seen this performance already. It’s merely the latest in a string of highly emotional characters for the actress, who periodically resorts to familiar mannerisms -- holding the back of her trembling hand up to her mouth when she cries, or fussing with her hair in moments of milder irritation.
As Wren, Cara Mantella tends to bring a whining vocal quality to her work that only makes it more difficult to appreciate her character as an ostensibly sound voice of reason.
Unlike Ashley's actors, sister set designers Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay do get to demonstrate their talents in a boldly different way. A far stretch from the tiny inner-city street corner they created for Horizon's current remount of "Avenue Q," this play unfolds in the spacious living room of a luxurious lakefront cabin.
Beyond a stunning panoramic window, sheer fabrics hang from the back wall of the stage, against which designer Mary Parker casts her lights to shimmering, shadowy effect.
Blessing’s idea of a happy ending is that Avis and Moss find a certain relief in their oblivion. Audiences may not feel so lucky.
Theater review
“A Body of Water”
Grade: C
Through Feb. 12. 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays; 10 a.m. Wednesday (Feb. 1). $16-$30. Aurora Theatre, 128 Pike St., Lawrenceville. 678-226-6222, auroratheatre.com.
Bottom line: Pretty but pointless.
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