Theatre Review: Beloved Is A Look Into The Deluded
Everybody has ambition, but not everybody has the access or knowledge on how to realize/ control it. Beloved may seem, in title, like a love story about a woman and a man forbidden to be together, but overcoming all those that say “NAY!” Yet, it, actually, is a story about delusion, and how a young woman falls for a man that opens her to worlds she always wanted but was too poor, too “female,” and too uneducated to get.
Ellinor DiLorenzo plays Katerina in this 80 minute monologue. Directed by Kathy Kurtiss, all eyes are on this young woman who is in love with Adam. Her “brilliant,” cultured boss whom is completely using her for sex. Yet, Katerina would not believe if you told her. She is enamored with this man because he i not simply her “love,” but her doorway into a world she has never known. From classical music to literature, Adam feeds Katerina’s ideas of the “better life,” and though he makes no promises to her of leaving his wife and newborn child, Katerina is already building their life together. DiLorenzo’s performance, in many ways, is a humbling lesson on how young women fall for manipulative, older men.
Sometimes, I wonder why women stay with “losers” or men that use them? We have all watched a relationship that felt like the physical embodiment of “huh?” Yet, DiLorenzo gives Katerina a raw delusion. She is honest about her likes, dislikes, and even her capacity to kill. Yet, what alarms you is that her core motivations of getting “Adam” at all costs come from boredom, and a hidden realization that a “man” is the only way she is going to achieve the material world she desires. I can already see the eye-rolls, but acknowledging that this is a man’s world is not a sin, but you cannot help but feel dark about how Katerina wants play in such a world. Yet, can you judge her?
Written by Lisa Langseth and translated by Charlotte Barslund, Beloved’s words are real, quick-witted, and devastating. Katerina feels like a a living zombie; the vivacious corpse of a young woman that never had a shot at life. For however dynamic and enthralling DiLorenzo plays her, this character feels like she is dying in the “humdrum” of what her life is supposed to be versus what is could be with Adam. I know that is harsh, and we live in a world that, often, says if, “If you work hard and smart enough, you will be rewarded!” Yet, part of our frustrations, is that we know that adage is not true. Sometimes, we really do lose when we have no access to better education, money, or people. Katerina only has the boring “Matthias” or the malicious “Adam,” and her founded fears that her life may just always be poor and in a small town push her to a psychological brink.
When people talk of poverty, they may mention how it makes you sad, suffered, tired, and angry. Yet, not many talk about how crazy it can turn you. It can feel like your life is on an emotional, swampy loop even when it, technically, in quaint room designed by Lisa Renee Jordan. Here is where you see that your desire to escape your “materially lesser” life can push you to spiritually lowering yourself, as well, especially if you are a young woman with no way out or up, but in the sensual gazes of a man that is on top. For More Information On Beloved And To Buy Tickets Click Here. The show is playing at Lion’s Theatre until August 11. Lion’s Theatre located on 410 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036.
