Five survivors of various ocean disasters cross time and space to arrive on one liferaft together in the middle of the endless ocean. Crowded together on the craft are Anna, a liberated Edwardian feminist from the HMS Lusitania; Michael and Holden, a pair of inept sailors from the USS Juneau; Lauren, a maverick young businesswoman who falls from the exploding TWA Flight 800; and Brandon, an environmentalist oceanographer swept out to sea by the Boxing-Day Tsunami of 2005. The play deals with the fear and paranoia that follow any survivors of disaster and what that fear can drive people to do.
The Depth of the Ocean is performed live in actual water, and the Perpetual Motion Theatre Company will apply their own unique aesthetic to the watery depths. As the play progresses, memory dissolves, motives become murky, and everything starts to slip under the waves.
Featuring
Erin Appel as Lauren
Derek Miller as Michael
Alia Mortensen as Anna
Eric Sharp as Brandon
Mark Sweeney as Holden
In collaboration with
Heather Stone
Review by Claude Peck (Minneapolis Star Tribune):
"Cream of the Crop! Best of the Fringe!"
Full
review no longer available online
Review by Dominic Papatola (St. Paul Pioneer Press):
"This water-bound adventure often manages to be thought
provoking. And the quintet of promising young performers? If nothing
else, they get an "A" for sheer moxie."
Full
review no longer available online
Review by Rod Smith (CityPages):
"Derek Miller's splashy afterlife drama would represent a
full-immersion Fringe baptism even if it weren't staged on an
inflatable raft in the downtown YWCA's pool. The five-person troupe's
compelling ensemble work is all the more impressive for the
production's close quarters and sopping period costumes. Granted, Depth
docks before resolving all its choppy questions. But even if you look
at The Ocean as a 60-minute sketch for a 90-minute play, it's still a
frigate in a week full of dinghies.
Full
Review
Review by Matthew Everett (In My Humble Opinion):
"From its solid story to its meaty characters, from the
setting's degree of difficulty to the cast's mesmerizing performances,
I really can't recommend this show highly enough"
Full
Review
Review by Kate Hoff (Full Frontal Fringe):
"This is a fantastic show; I thought the writing and acting
easily carried it beyond the obvious oddity draw."
Full
Review
Audience Reviews
from the Minneapolis Fringe Festival website:
"This show, novel in its presentation, is at times funny,
mysterious, dramatic, surreal, and thought-provoking. It asks you to
step outside of the characters and the plot to question something more
universal."
"Perfectly written, perfectly acted, perfectly staged."
"Great performances all around, and a good examination of the particulars of tragedy."
"I've seen fringe plays that are perhaps more fun, but no other show I've seen is as mesmerizing, leaving you with amazing images and ideas to ponder. The acting is of superb quality, the script excellent, and the production one you'll never forget."
"This may be the best thing I've seen at the Fringe."
"Well-trained actors carry simple lines with the
aplomb to make a fascinating play amusing. The well-paced dialogue
careens around the confines of the characters' violently-imploded
pesonalities. In the end, all find life so chaotic they begin to revel
in their own hallucinatory reality.