AND IF I DON’T BEHAVE THEN WHAT at Open Fist Theatre Company

Cynthia Ettinger. Photo by Frank Ishman.

Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw.

Brdar’s play isn’t a play in any traditional sense. It’s a poem. A one-woman confessional in 13 verses, starting with “Age 0” and culminating in “Age 78.” It’s almost a one-woman show performed by Cynthia Ettinger, except for the supporting characters (Carmella Jenkins, Howard Leder and Debba Rofheart) who step in nimbly to supplement the verse, sometimes speaking it as in a baton passed, or suggesting the characters to whom the central speaker, Woman, refers.

Each verse begins with what becomes a refrain: “My mother always said . . .” and weaves from there into all kinds of sometimes salient, sometimes idiotic counsel — sometimes getting Woman into ludicrous physical contortions… Read more…