Apparently much of Bump, this mostly intriguing and fun piece, is the result of improvisation, probably by the two stars. And star they do as they mime and play the cute heart out of a not-so-cute meet followed by a cuter one. Also a few different kinds of partings that might have happened anywhere on earth that has a Walmart. Eliana begins by sitting and waiting and wondering that will eventually come full circle and have her end similarly but not identically. A buzzing insect and butterfly in a book get her out of her chair. The buzz too will happen at or cause fraught moments. Orianna Charles’s Eliana sets herself up as a gal who wants to be moving. So she does—in a car that bumps into Ian’s (well, actually his brother’s). As well played by Andrew Hollingworth, Ian’s a ready embellisher of fact that would present him in a less lofty way. The two smooth over the bothersome bumping accident and personally—with Eliana doing most of the paving—then smooth a path from being drinking partners at a bar to being romantic partners. Here’s where some wonderful mime occurs, much of it under the shelter of a big red sheet-blanket (in a suggested upright bed). How will they feel about each other afterward? Time works on Ian so that he aims to forward the romance. Unluckily for Ian, who’s set himself up as a physics expert and an Apple sales associate, Orianna meets him again in a Walmart. That’s where he really works and where he’s going to work (again very comically) on getting Orianna to have more than just another tryst with him. So how does the couple fare in their future get-together and toward their future being together? We listen for the buzz with great admiration of those who’ve made us eager to learn the answer.
