THE HANGOVER REPORT – Sharon Washington’s perfectly pleasant theatrical memoir FEEDING THE DRAGON needed some real vulnerability

Sharon Washington in "Feeding the Dragon", a Primary Stages production at the Cherry Lane Theatre.

Sharon Washington in “Feeding the Dragon”, a Primary Stages production at the Cherry Lane Theatre.

Closing out Primary Stages’ 2017-2018 season was Sharon Washington’s one-woman theatrical memoir Feeding the Dragon, which recently concluded its run at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Ms. Washington is a fine actress and I had a perfectly pleasant time spending time with her as she recounted her somewhat troubled childhood – most importantly as it related to her alcoholic father – above the St. Agnes Branch of the New York Public Library on the Upper West Side of New York City.

However, I felt there was a tendancy to reduce these early experiences into easily digestible bites. Sometimes, painful memories are most effectively depicted in their rawest, unvarnished form – in all their awkward and unresolved glory. At times I felt that Ms. Washington’s considerable and polished onstage charisma worked against her – the text and her performance packaged most of these memories neatly in a tidy bow, in my mind diluting their impact.

The Primary Stages production is directed solidly by Maria Mileaf. Notably, the show is given a fantastic physical look by set designer Tony Ferrieri. His scenic design is a stylized version of a warm, glowing library – the perfect setting to bring Ms. Washington’s past back to life. I just wish she had revealed some real vulnerability.

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FEEDING THE DRAGON
Off-Broadway, Play
Primary Stages at Cherry Lane Theatre
1 hour, 20 minutes 
Closed

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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