←Recommendations of Harlowe

Ooooh this play! It deals with trauma and healing and touch and family and water - which can be both comforting and destructive. I love how each character is complex and sympathetic in their own way, and watching the dynamics as they interact. Just fantastic.

From the opening page, I was completely drawn in to the beautiful language and imagery of this play. Harlowe's world, perspective, and grief are introduced with great delicacy and care, and Reese's struggle to find herself beyond her sister is deeply authentic. Lane's adeptness with metaphors of healing and rebirth enrich the narrative, and turn a compelling family drama into a near-transcendent meditation on the physical cost of being alive. Cannot recommend highly enough!

A powerful story of pain, feeling and healing trauma. Beautifully done.

Harlowe is a stunning piece of theatre. Somewhat reminiscent of Scott Kegler's "Champagne and Licorice" in that we see a young woman struggling, but we only learn of the nature of her struggles throughout the course of the play and her relationships with family and lovers. The water theme runs deep in this play (pun intended) and there are so many ways to go with that theme. Highly recommended reading for anyone looking for a really well-crafted play portraying emotional anguish played against physical reaction.

Harlowe is a bit of a theatrical miracle. We start out with a heavy, dark, poetic monologue from a woman (Harlowe) in a bathtub. This woman is in pain, real pain, pain she is aware of and can no longer feel. Then she is interrupted and suddenly Harlowe and the audience are thrust into a real world that's as hilarious as it is complex. Moving seamlessly in and out of her protagonist's thoughts and fears, Jenny Lane has written a beautiful latticework of familial need and insecurity as Harlowe and her brood verge ever closer to healing.

At its heart, a great examination of the vulnerability and self-imposed isolation that can develop after physical & emotional trauma. But wrapped in a funny/sad family drama. I really want to see this show produced.