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Why arent we all talking more about Bess Wohl?
Its a chancy move.
Is everyone is everyone good?
… How long is this going to take, right?
Could this whole thing become a diary reading?
I am here with you, in the present.
Hi, Flood says, with just a hint of sheepishness.
And I want to bring back some things that happened in the past.
I I think we all know how this kind of thing works.
The year was 1970, Floods narrator-self tells us before she drops into her second role.
Women are human beings.
If you dont believe that, at this point, I dont know how I can help you.
Blonde and prim, Dora (Audrey Corsa) ImDora!
These are the women, narrator-slash-Lizzie tells us before the action begins.
The characters havent yet opened their mouths, but the firepower of this group of actors is already palpable.
Flood asks with blinking incredulity as Isidora blazes on to something else.
Hey, feminists contain multitudes.
Like, what ismypresence doinghere, in this story?
Lloyd goes on, fixing a hard gaze on Flood.
I struggle with that, I do.
This is my dad.
I mean, I havent really done much so far, she quips at the narrator.
Like, I just came in looking for a backpack for a hot second … Im being underutilized.
Youre actually fine, she says, not unkind but certainly not indulgent.
It takes courage to attempt a play likeLiberation the courage of sincerity and imperfection.
In our age of self-kneecapping carefulness, Wohl both takes risks and dramatizes the moral dilemma of taking them.
We didnt go far enough, her older self tells the narrator.
We were all so middle-of-the-road, the middle of the road is the death of everything.
Its the death of art.
Liberationis at the Laura Pels Theatre at Roundabout through March 30.
