BorderLight Theater Festival Review, Day Three: Friday, July 26

Many people complain that there are too many standing ovations in theaters these days. And they have a point. However, in the four plays we viewed yesterday there were three standing O's, and each was well earned.

Paper Cut
Miss Spencer, an uber-efficient secretary for her boss Mr. McCormick, is a terror to her co-workers back in the 1940s. But she harbors sexy dreams of a life together with her boss. And it all comes alive in this one person show co-written and performed by Yael Rasooly.

Using photos from film magazines and black-and-white paper cutouts as puppets, she takes the audience on a touching and hilarious journey through her hidden desires (a sultry rendezvous in Havana, a dream life with McCormick in a chateau until she meets his dangerous maid Georgette). This is all supported by music and her singing.

Rasooly has presented this work in multiple countries over many years, so her every move and gesture is polished to a gleam. Standing O, for sure.

The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much
This is another show that has been perfected at many previous venues and is now fully cooked and available to us at BorderLight. Four talented performers trained in the Lecoq method (body-centered theater that reimagines movement while acting), results in a jaw-dropping display of physical dexterity and laugh-out-loud surprises.

The plot is a Hitchcock-ian adventure revolving around French guy Roger (that's pronounced row-ZHAY, thank you), an advertising copywriter who gets tangled up in international suspense complete with Russian bad guys.

There is not a dull moment in the 75-minute piece as even simple movements have a unique twist while they also go into slow motion, rewind, and other modes that are hard to describe. The hard-working cast (Olivia Zerphy, Sam Rayner, Emily Wheatman and Paul Lofferon) is accompanied by a musician who is also an occasional victim of the carnage.

Standing Ovation? Oh, hell yes.

Occupied
This show takes us through the wreckage left behind when a lesbian relationship hits the skids, after we assume the dreaded "lesbian bed death" has occurred. Throughout, Gaffney shares scalding insights about her life as she dresses and undresses, unable to find herself thanks to recorded voices, including her own, that torment her. At one point she admits that "Being mentally well is unfathomable."

The 30-minute one-hander, created and performed by Tessa Gaffney, begins and ends in misery until a volley of hopeful aphorisms quoted from Derek Walcott offer a gleam of hope. And get this: It's very funny. That earns Occupied an ovation of the standing kind.

Night Before the Forest
In this manic, stream-of-consciousness monolog written by Bernard-Marie Koltès and performed by Lazaros Theodorakopoulos, a homeless man scours his easily distracted mind to find a path through his life.

Along the way he encounters a man, represented by a suit coat on a hanger, and he recalls an encounter with woman down by the river. It is in equal parts disturbing and mysterious, inviting the audience to find their own way along with him. But be careful, because as he says, "the bastards are out there."

All four of these plays are being offered today, Saturday, so check out the schedule at borderlightcle.org. And get the hell down to Playhouse Square before they all disappear.

Plus, today from Noon to 4 PM is Family Day at BorderLight, with kid-friendly shows ("The Toothpaste Millionaire") and interactive activities—kite-making, mask-making and circus skills to name just a few. All kids 5 and under are free.

It all ends today with 63 more shows available. So, what's your excuse?

BorderLight Theater Festival
Ending today, Noon-11 PM (or so)—all around Playhouse Square, Euclid and E. 14 St., borderlight.org .