Longtime local theater-maker Ki Gottberg has written some good plays of the fractured-fairy-tale variety, but sheâs taking a risk with Frontier: an autobiographical solo show, with help from director John Kazanjian.
Frontier is heartbreaking in two ways. First, itâs got tough material: the story of how a girl broke with her immigrant parents (German-Jewish and Indian-Anglo), how she couldnât have a baby, how she eventually made a baby (with her husbandâs sperm and her sisterâs womb), and how that baby came down with cancer.
Second, despite the heartbreaking material, the show is not very good. Gottbergâs delivery is performative and showyâshe giggles and shrieks and hams up her parentsâ accentsâbut it doesnât land its emotional punches. A one-person show doesnât have to be self-centered, but this one falls deep into that hole. She doesnât do the work to coax us into her head and make us feel her pain. Gottberg simply tells her pain and expects us to feel it, too. While reflexive sympathy is a virtue in most areas of life, it is not incumbent upon people whoâve swapped $15 for a little over an hour of their lives.
Frontierâs most jarring moment comes toward the end of the show, when Gottberg is wailing over her childâs horrible wrestling match with death. âWhy me, God?â she howlsâbut never âwhy her?â The devil is in the pronouns.