How can we find true, sustained love when we failed to receive it? This is the question Sadec 1965 attempts to answer. After finding out that her estranged father has cancer, Flora goes on a 6-week solo motorcycle trip through Vietnam, her father’s homeland, to make sense of her difficult relationship with him. Her search for answers will take her on an incredible journey through time and space, allowing her memories to take on a new meaning.
There is discussion of sexual abuse, promiscuity, drugs, HIV and domestic violence, with minimal acting of those topics on stage. There are some mentions of food and of eating but no actual consumption of food on stage. The performer occasionally takes a drink of water. There is no discussion of suicide, or mental health / institutionalization.
There are references to the Vietnam war and to combat actions but it is not central to the story.
There is one loud noise where the performer screams while acting out the moment of a motorcycle accident. This sudden change happens at about the ⅔ point of the show. The rest of the show is spoken with a normal voice, addressing the audience directly.
The show weaves three stories, with constant back and forth between the stories. There is a light change whenever the performer shifts from one story to another. Those light changes are soft, slow, and barely perceptible (i.e., not surprising or dramatic).
Fringe Review: Sadec 1965: A Love Story – Brian Carroll, Apartment 613
Mid life crisis come early, Flora takes her difficult father’s health spiral as a cue to disrupt her aimless life on a soul searching motorcycle trek in her family’s Vietnam.
Weaving timelines between bedside visits and the open road, Flora switches back and forth to create an evolving narrative of her difficult journey on separate continents. The tale is told matter of factly, carefully, almost cold, but oddly effective. The story is the star.
As good as this was, it would benefit from some visuals from the spectacular landscapes of Vietnam (as teased on preview night).
– hipCRANK