←Recommendations of Olly Olly Oxen Free

I saw a production of this at the Fonseca Theatre Company in Indianapolis. It had a wonderfully delicious feeling of dread. Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn keeps cranking up the impending doom. You don't exactly know WHAT is coming... but you know it ain't anything good. A great addition to any Halloween show.

What I love about Jacquie's stone circle series is that there is so much open to interpretation. This short play is a fine example, for me it leaves me pondering: are we really safe in our own safe space, in our own stone circle? What if we leave, or someone joins us in our comfort place, is our security jeopardised? Add to this the playwrights skill in horror and you have a truly great, short, chilling mystery to watch.
Wonderful!

I’ve read OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE twice and I still only have a sense of what it might be about, something I admire about absurdist drama and Jacquie Priskorn's short play. Marty and Jessy seem to be transitioning from the rules of children’s games that keep one safe to the bigger universal game where we’re always in danger. I like the use of the Offstage Voice to ratchet up the tension and Jessy’s great existential line that seems to encapsulate the piece: “Even if you call time out, your time will still run out.”

There is nothing more terrifying than the darkness and sometimes we have what we think are safe places to hide in to protect ourselves from bullies around us. Jacquelyn play will have you racing that very place to hide and to think about what is out there in the darkness and can we ever feel safe in anything but the light ever again!

The dark is a scary, scary place, and Jaquelyn Floyd-Priskorn's Olly Olly Oxen Free keeps you there. What are the rules? What are the stakes? Who (or what) is the third player lurking out in the darkness? Concrete answers aren't given, leaving you grasping at hints and suggestions. Creepy, good stuff!

If Samuel Beckett wrote a children's play, this would be it.
"Olly Olly Oxen Free" seems like a simple play, until the stakes are raised.
Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn has a way with words, so read each and everyone of them.
Highly recommended, and tell all of your fellow actors and playwrights to read "Olly Olly Oxen Free".

A playful children’s game… becomes so much more! A spooky, disturbing piece of work!

I remember playing tag as a child, and being “it” meant trying to catch at least one other kid before they all made it to the safe spot. In Jacquie Floyd-Priskorn’s eerie short play, safety is uncertain and being “it” takes on a whole new, scary meaning. No ages are specified for the characters, making the interpretations of this play practically limitless. I shiver just writing this recommendation!

When is “play” not really “play,” and if the game ceases to be fun, can it even be considered “play’” anymore? I love the existential nightmarishness of this brief play (another use of the word “play” that is meant to be entertaining but sometimes in a very scary way). I also feel this clever play evokes the feeling of anxiety very well because you know it seems irrational but that doesn’t stop it occurring. I am going to be thinking about this play all day (in a very good way)!

Whoa, that turned dark quickly. There's a vaguely sadistic aspect to a lot of games, and safety is just a concept and not a surety. Jacquie Floyd's short piece takes what should be an innocuous game and lends it an air of true menace. From trust issues between the seen participants, to the unsettling UNSEEN voice, there's very little play going on here. Then things take a macabre turn. This is the kind of play that can set your skin crawling with it's execution. Creepy and highly effective.