Sam Perwin as Frederic Bartholdi and Brandon Curry as Libby
Photo: Mike Kerouac
Review by Steve Desroches
No dogs or cats were harmed during the production of Liberty Talks, a satirical play at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater about America’s most enduring symbol of welcoming immigrants to our shores. That’s because there were no dogs or cats in the production as well as because the idea that they would be hurt is just a tired, racist, and xenophobic myth resurrected by the Trump/Vance campaign. As soon as the idea of an American came into being so too did the idea of a new “other,” in a country almost entirely rooted in being from away and arriving to add to the perpetual motion of the concept. It’s what makes this brand-new play written by Fermin Rojas, a Provincetown playwright, so timely.
In Liberty Talks the Statue of Liberty, whose actual full name is La Liberté éclairant le monde (Liberty Enlightening the World), but now prefers the more casual Libby takes quantum leaps through time as she is facing a personal existential crisis in a nation experiencing one of its own. Nearing 150 years old in a country only about 100 years older, Lady Liberty is now a tough talking New Yorker who has had it holding up the torch and tablet all these years. Being a symbol of liberty and freedom is a lot of pressure, especially when the country you represent doesn’t always live up to those ideals. Above all else Liberty Talks is a clever and sly exploration of national symbols of what and who is remembered, or honored, and their founding fables and the much more complicated truths being their creation, and reason for being. Perhaps the most famous humanmade symbol of the United States, and the real and perceived promises made by the country, exploring the inner psyche of the Statue of Liberty is indeed its own colossus handled marvelously by Brandon Curry in the lead role.
Curry brings humanity and heart to the role as well as a slinky physicality to a statue that is tired of standing still, never leaving the stage for the entire two-hour performance in a set designed to look like the Eiffel designed innards of the statue’s head, actually created by Christopher Ostrom. The comedic exhaustion the Statue of Liberty feels as she has to handle the voices in her head as to who she is, defined by everybody from an equally chatty statue of Sojourner Truth to a Texas school teacher, give this production directed by Janice J. Goldberg, a roller coaster style pacing with absurdity and sentimentality offering a compelling interpretation
of these confusing times that are filled with hope and fear.
Liberty Talks is at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT), 2357 State Highway Route 6, Wellfleet, Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. now through October 6. Tickets ($15-$45) are available at the box office and online at what.org. On Friday, September 20 there is a special Provincetown night starting at the Provincetown Brewing Company and a Funk Bus trip to and from WHAT for $65. September 21, 22, 28, and 29 are Pay What You Can nights. For more information call 508.349.9428.
