Beautiful Soup Theater Presents
Five Plays in Repertory by Steven Carl McCasland
neat & tidy
The Clarion Theatre
309 East 26th St.
NY NY 10010

12, 16, 21, 26, 29 May 2015

Written and Directed by Steven Carl McCasland

The gruesome rape and murder of a child affects everyone in the community. The police, the person who discovers the body, the doctor who birthed the child, a neighbor grieving over the death of her own child—all are traumatized. But of course, no one is more traumatized than the child’s parents. It is a rare marriage that can survive this tragedy. Loosely (very loosely) inspired by the 1994 case of Susan Smith who drove her children into a lake, drowning them, neat & tidy explores the way the murder of a child tears apart a couple and the ripple effects on everyone else.

Tracy (the excellent Kristen Gehling) is a cold mother who never quite developed her maternal instinct and seethed with jealousy over her husband’s love of their daughter. The murder of their little girl exposes the frazzled seams that were barely holding their marriage together, and the crime begets more murder.

The play is a little bit too long, and there are a few characters who aren’t really necessary. The small venue made the gimmick of interspersing cast members with the audience distracting rather than creating a deeper intimacy with the characters. Other than that, the fine acting and beautiful writing makes this well worth seeing.

Note to actors looking for monologues, there are some excellent ones in here. And note to agents, there are some very talented actors to discover here!

- Jean Tait -