Lee Blessing, who built his reputation on finely wrought plays fraught with ethical dilemmas, turns existential in A Body of Water, in which a mature couple awake in a comfortable home with a view of water and no clue as to what it is or who they are.
Is that a bay or a lake? Are they married? Happily so? And what about the clothes in the closet? And the young woman who eventually arrives: A daughter? A lawyer? Something else? And why would they need a lawyer?
The characters create themselves anew each day. Is it Alzheimer's disease? A response to trauma? And does it matter -- to them or to the audience at Mosaic Theater in South Florida?
Fans of such Blessing plays as Cobb (which had a fine production at Mosaic in 2002), Two Rooms and Down the Road ultimately may feel they've been left up a creek without a paddle, but that's a sign of success. Director Richard Jay Simon and his three-person cast deliver a production whose characters are believable at every moment in a tale whose twists course between satisfying and horrifying.
Simon directs with his usual nuanced touch; set, lighting and sound are pitch perfect; and the cast of South Florida veterans is a gem: Ken Clement and Elizabeth Dimon are the couple, Moss and Avis; and Kim Morgan Dean is the visitor, named Wren.
Blessing includes a nice passage about the difference between wrens and sparrows, and you may be happy for that information. But after leaving the theater you may decide to look it up -- just in case. A Body of Water can have you questioning a lot of things.
