When your phone rings and you answer, sixteen year old Danny is on the other line. He is absolutely terrified. “Can you hear me?” is the first line of an immensely unusual and incredibly captivating piece of social distancing theater. Claws is a forty minute one-on-one telephone encounter. The experience is creepy, mysterious, unnerving, unsettling, utterly captivating and a little sad. All of that makes this journey a fascinating one.
When you book your ticket, a time slot is purchased. A phone call will come and the tale will commence. No spoiler alerts here. I would hate to destroy the surprises that unravel as this little horror story unfolds.
Abject terror is what you hear in Danny’s voice. There is loud banging in the background. He is reaching out like he’s calling 9-1-1. There’s a monster in the closet. And he “LOOKS LIKE ME.” My mind raced as I both tried to communicate with Danny and also predict how the story would develop. As I threw out questions or answered his, details effortlessly emerged. My role seemed to be very, very serious which is how my personal discomfort settled in. “You believe me, don’t you?” was a tough one to answer. I decided to go down the path of “yes.”
Created by Evan Neiden and Directed by John Ertman, Claws is for fans who miss experiential theater. These two have managed to bring that to this social distancing world in a enormously creative package. As the story evolves, the tension is ratcheted upward. New information enriches the scenario. “Where is this going?” My mind was caught in a complex blend of participation and analysis. The intimacy of the one-on-one set up was definitely intense.
Vincent D’Avanzo portrays Danny. The performance is a spectacularly realized amalgam of terrifying, heartbreaking, sad and worrying. The youthful naivete of a sixteen year old was spot on. Not yet a man and still somewhat a boy. That monster was indeed frightening. Mr. D’Avanzo never missed a moment in presenting this tale no matter what my input added to the mix of ingredients. In a very weird way, this little play was disturbingly fun.
I had taken a little break from streaming theater during the last month. Candle House Collective is new to me. When talented creative people problem solve to maximum effect, Claws is a shining example of success. When they take the world around us in 2020 and incorporate all of our fears into that storytelling, the result is astonishingly impactful. Wherever this company goes next, I’ll be there to answer the call.
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