Sunday, June 9, 2019

Tranference (Fringe Review)

Spoilers ahoy!

I do love a dose of the paranormal or mystical or science fiction to throw life into sharp relief.  Transference by Jim Blanchette proves to be exactly that.  A teacher named Jessica (Lisa K. Watt) attends a therapy session, this time trying to use hypnosis to cure her smoking.  Her therapist Dr. Herbert (Esther Mira) tries to reassure her, calming the nervous woman down.  Eventually she does hypnotize her and BOOM!  Jessica remembers all her past lives.  All of them.  And in every single one, she and Dr. Herbert loved each other deeply. 

But they also ended up murdered.

Now this makes for a lovely premise, and the script does very well with it.  Watching and listening as Jessica tries to persuade Dr. Herbert they are soul mates proves hilarious as well as fascinating.  Not guffaw hilarious but constant giggles and smiles on many levels.  It also nicely transitions into more than simple recognition and/or acceptance.  After all, the heart is rarely that simple and if it were--why would it end in murder so very, very many times?

I could wish for more time.  More like ninety minutes instead of around fifty.  But this is something of a real gem.  I am also a tiny bit puzzled about the end--but I suspect that is me.

Transference plays Friday June 14 2019, 5:30 PM, Thursday June 20 2019, 10:30 PM, Sunday June 23 2019, 7:30 PM, and Saturday June 29 2019 at the Broadwater Black Box Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood CA.

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