Hailed as “a truly hysterical play, in both the funny and the crazy sense of the word this award-winning "dram-edy" is set in South Philadelphia and revolves around Rose and Cliff, two half-crazy people searching for love in a world gone mad.”
Hypersensitive Rose is haunted by her past and obsessed by destruction. She has compassion for everything--from the chair she rescued from the curbside to the dead cactus she won't throw out, because, as she says hopefully, "You never know."
Rose works behind the candy counter of the five-and-dime, and dreams of true love and how she'll meet a man one day who doesn't smoke, drink, curse or make fun of her, a guy "with a smile you can hang onto," someone she can speak to "without words."
Instead, she encounters the fast-talking, wisecracking Cliff, a transcontinental truck driver waiting for his rig to be repaired, who wanders into her store looking for some wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am action. He’s a beer-swilling, wannabe parachute jumper who mocks Rose, her dilapidated apartment and her antiquated value system, even as he tries to seduce her.
Despite their seeming incompatibility this odd couple is drawn together by a mutual fear of commitment and by a longing for love. While Cliff is perplexed by Rose's oversensitivity and her love of poetry, he senses he can trust her. And while Rose is repelled by Cliff's vulgarity, she respects his desire for "life before death" and his way of laughing off the everyday tragedies.
I went to see The Woolgatherer at the Capitol Theatre and I can tell you that Lauren Page Russell and Beau Dixon are extraordinary in what must be very difficult parts to nail down. They nailed ‘em. I saw Lauren last year in “The Last Five Years” and Beau in “The Full Monty”. Casting them together in The Woolgatherer is inspired, as is Tim Russell’s direction. Tim is Lauren’s dad, an actor and the technical genius at the Capitol theatre whose directing skills are very exciting. Sincerely hope he does more.
Selena Forsyth.
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