Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Lauren Gunderson’s sly, uneven new play NATURAL SHOCKS features a game, likeable Pascale Armand

• By drediman
• November 27, 2018
• No Comments

Pascale Armand in Lauren Gunderson’s “Natural Shocks” at WP Theater. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Last night, I caught the final Off-Broadway performance of Lauren Gunderson’s sly, uneven new play Natural Shocks at WP Theater. The one-woman play – which stars a game Pascale Armand – tells the story of Angela, an insurance agent who is fascinated by the statistics and psychology of disaster. When she herself is stuck in her basement hunkering down for the imminent arrival of a tornado, our heroine – alone with her thoughts, and us – reflects upon her life, particularly her tough-love relationship with her late mother and her rocky marriage.

For most of the play, Natural Shocks is a congenial experience, especially in the hands of the likeable Ms. Armand. However, as the play approaches its conclusion, its tone shifts drastically – no spoilers here – leading to an urgenly-messaged and undeniably powerful, albeit somewhat implausible, climax that jarringly comes out of left field. In hindsight, it can be argued that Ms. Gunderson had left enough breadcrumbs along the way to warrant such a 180 degree turn. Nevertheless, I still chock it up to the play’s lack of overall focus – Angela feels too mocked up to be a convincing character – to truly compel.

Luckily, the WP Theater production of Natural Shocks was tightly directed by May Adrales. Ms. Armand is an agreeable presence throughout, even when Ms. Gunderson’s dialogue becomes redundant and contradictory (e.g., I really can’t believe Angela would have ended up in the kind of marriage that she does). Ultimately, however, not even her easy-going charisma can totally mask the incongruence of Ms. Gunderson’s play.

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NATURAL SHOCKS
Off-Broadway, Play
WP Theater
1 hour, 10 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed