By Eden Elizabeth
“5 Locks, 5 Keys” consist of three plays written and directed by Dennis Moritz. Moritz is a fantastic director, who with N1 projects has been producing in NYC and is now premièring these pieces in our great city of Philadelphia during the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
Walking into the delicate, quaint and obscure center city space of Our House Culture Center, I was greeted with the pleasant sounds of the 60s; music that I thought had long passed and was never thought of anymore. In speaking with the playwright, N1’s dedication is original work that they workshop and produce every few months.
I sat excitedly waiting, (well, chair dancing a bit), for what I could only imagine to be stories that would be real and authentic. Then the lights dimmed for Blues in a Buick featuring Effie Kammer and Paul Pirozzi. In this delightful period piece, there is a power struggle between a man and a woman. The theme is “what I want”. It is a story of conflict, between a couple and the tactics that they use to get what they want. She wants a beautiful blue Buick, and he wants her to beg for it.
As the story unfolds, we watch a beautiful dance between man and woman, male and female, soft and hard. His character is typical for this time, and she is enchanting. As the story unfolds, who has the power decidedly changes; it’s all about the tactics. It’s an enjoyable telling of man versus woman. It’s easy to connect to the woman’s feeling of just wanting to be chosen. The fuss over an object of the blue Buick reveals how far away they are from one another.
Her lines are poetic. His are harsher. In a way, the dialogue was like jazz. At times it was difficult to understand the male lead, he should watch his volume.
Lovely music accompanied a quick set change for the second performance, Uncle. Beverly Gunn performs this strong and powerful monologue. You are looking at the everyday American and how they feel as they struggle to make it through a day. It is amazing the way the playwright has taken us through the dirt and filth that we find around us every day. We take the bits of pieces of trash and disgust, and we cook it to try to make it something that we can eat and satisfy ourselves. And in his own words we are left with a “white hot circle” that is never filled.
Beverly is strong and powerful, and she is unhappy and lonely. She is questioning everything; everything about our country, everything about who gets protected under that flag. The poetry to this monologue is stunning and it rings hard truths to the audience. The biggest one is that when we are all very hungry, we will eat anything.
A small break with wine followed this performance. And then we are off again for Love Luv performed by Daralyse Lyons. This is an exquisite poem of love, rejection and loss. The author confided in me that this was based on an experience he had in a diner in Muncie. A wonderful woman walked in, who was very dramatic and just sat down at a booth next to him and started telling him all of her stories. All of the different stories that this actress touchingly and angrily told had the major theme of feeling “less than”. It brought me to tears.
In all of the three pieces the poetry is obvious and exceptional. There were places where the message started strong and would wear on a little but not too long to lose the point or the audience! Thanks to the brilliant performances, the writing will likely resonate with you. If you look for theatre that makes a connection, and delivers a message, this is definitely a show for you!
If You Go:
“5 locks 5 keys” – written and directed by Dennis Moritz.
Performances at Our House Cultural Center is at 6380 Germantown Ave.
Actors: Beverly Gunn, Effie Kammer, Daralyse Lyons and Paul Prozi (aka Wharton Tract).
- Sept. 15 – 7 pm
- Sept. 16 – 7 pm
- Sept. 17 – 7 pm
Run Time: 90 mins. Ticket Price: $20 at 5 locks 5 keys – Philadelphia Fringe Festival (phillyfringe.org)