THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART AT APOLLINAIRE THEATRE
Becca A Lewis. Photo by Danielle Fauteux Jacques.
★★★★☆
It may be that no local theater company does weird as well as Apollinaire, and Danielle Fauteux Jacques’s atmospheric and good-natured production of David Greig’s bizarre The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart is another strange feather in their one-of-a-kind cap.
Immersively staged in a Scottish pub on the Scottish borders (also designed by Fauteux Jacques), Prudencia Hart (Becca A. Lewis) is an uptight academic who ventures out into a snowstorm one strange night and finds herself face to face with the Devil himself (Keith Foster).
For several reasons, Prudencia Hart—which is told in rhyming couplets at a sometimes breakneck speed and with over-the-top Scottish accents—can feel impossible to follow, even frustratingly so. But despite the confusion, Apollinaire’s production remains compelling, mysterious, and alluringly atmospheric. It’s a fantastical fever dream complete with audience interaction and live music, including a sultry, creepy version of Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” that—I’ll be honest—I wouldn’t mind hearing a few dozen more times.
Becca Lewis is fearless and charming as Prudencia, and as Colin Syme—Prudencia’s cocky suitor and, ultimately, savior—Brooks Reeves once again makes a good case that he just might be one of Boston’s most valuable theatrical assets.
Daring, rambunctious, and refreshingly odd, I still can’t get Prudencia Hart out of my head.
THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART. THROUGH 5.4 AT APOLLINAIRE THEATRE COMPANY, 189 WINNISIMMET ST., CHELSEA. APOLLINAIRETHEATRE.COM
CHRISTOPHER EHLERS
Chris is a theater critic for TheaterMania, WBUR's TheArtery, and is the Theater Editor for DigBoston. He is the treasurer of the Boston Theater Critics Association and reviews film and music for EDGE Media Network.
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