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Aphrodisiac not what you think

Contributed by: Erin Di Paolo on 2/6/2007

If you think that a play entitled Aphrodisiac is simply about sex, you are simply wrong. It goes way deeper than that. More about that in a minute.

Months ago, I wrote a story about Curious Theatre Company. Before I wrote the story, I had never heard of Curious and I have lived in Denver for 16 years. Yet Curious Theatre has been here for nearly ten years, producing and presenting scores of award-winning productions. Before last week, Curious was still only a name to me, however, as I had never seen any of its productions. That has all changed.

I went to see the theatre's most recent play, Aphrodisiac, last Saturday night. I enjoyed it a great deal, despite the title. The entire play was composed of three characters, with the majority of it acted by two. The third character was not on stage for more than 20 minutes. The remainder of the play was acted by Josh Robinson (Avery) and Jessica Robblee (Alma).

The play is based on the true story of Senator Gary Condit and his intern, Chandra Levy, who disappeared on April 30, 2001 and whose body was found on May 22, 2002. At the time of Levy's death, she was having an affair with Condit and many suspected that he murdered her. Though he was questioned in her disappearance, he was never charged with a crime. At the very least, however, he was guilty of adultery, which most consider to be a moral crime, if not a felonious one.

Despite its name, the production has little to do with the sexual exploits of congressmen and their interns, but more to do with the power that goes with young women having affairs with older, powerful men. Power is the aphrodisiac that propels young women interns into the arms of powerful older men like Condit and Bill Clinton who just happen to be politicians. Yes,Bill Clintonwas mentioned in the play as the third actor, Mare Trevathan, played a convincing Monica Lewinsky.

Though Condit and Levy have different names in the play, there is no doubt that many of the details surrounding their relationship and its outcome were borrowed for the production. They have an affair. She disappears. She is found later, dead. There is speculation of whether he killed her or not.

Robinson and Robblee play the beleaguered congressman's son and daughter as they agonize over their father - and mother's - role and fate. During the production, they role play with one another, with the daughter pretending to be the mother and father, the son pretending to be the father, etc. At first, I found myself lost, but quickly got what they were trying to accomplish. It was quite effective, I might add.

I give the production a B+, for its creativity and acting. Of course, I am no theatre critic. The play runs through Feb. 24. For more information, visit www.curioustheatre.org or call 303-623-0524.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Erin Di Paolo

Denver , CO

Erin Di Paolo has posted 61 stories and 6 comments since joining on 3/18/2006. Erin Di Paolo 's average story rating is 4.81.
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