Red Speedo – A Poolside Theater Experience

Walking Shadow Theatre is beloved in the Twin Cities – and for good reason. This small theater company is both playful and pensive, which nearly always results in intimate, experimental performances that leave audiences with thought-provoking material and unique performances to digest.

Walking Shadow’s recent production of Red Speedo is no exception. This play, which follows a ditzy swimmer on the eve of his Olympic trial is literally performed poolside at Hamline University. The venue makes for an interesting immersive experience – if not also a slightly muggy one.

Red Speedo, written by award-winning playwright Lucas Hnath and directed by Natalie Novacek, is a glimpse at the life of Ray (Logan Lang), a swimmer who is on the cusp of qualifying for the Olympics when he is nearly busted for steroid use by his coach (John Winston Stephens). The next twenty-four hours are a series of dramatic ups and downs with an undercurrent of incessant arguing and backstabbing between Ray and his brother Peter (Paul LaNave). Ray tries not to let his last chance to “be somebody” slip through his fingers and impulsively tries to win back the love of his life, Lydia (Amanda Forstrom). This hour and a half long show is a philosophical smorgasbord, offering up questions that range from the ridiculous to the profound – and that are sometimes, somehow both.

Do performance enhancing drugs level the playing field for those who are not born with biological advantages? Is a victory fueled by the placebo effect a real victory? Is it “fair” for one person lose a job and a professional license if they made someone else lose their job and their professional license first? Is a good deed still good if you personally profit off it? Are rich people better than poor people? Does the analysis of that question change when the person struggling with the issue grew up poor and is desperate for their kids to be happier than they were?

If this sounds like a lot to take in while your tailbone grinds against the cool stainless steel of standard issue bleachers and the astringent, chlorinated humidity of an indoor pool slowly suffocates you, you are not wrong. More than once the thought flitted across my mind: is this worth it? Does the atmosphere of an actual pool accentuate what is happening on the stage?

Ultimately, I would argue yes.

The buzzers, the timer running up and down in the background, the way we always knew exactly where a character was headed based off which door they exited through, the shimmer of the pool glancing off of Ray and Lydia as they reminisced in hushed undertones. Even the parts of the immersion that I did not like: namely the uncomfortable seat (slightly mitigated by the cushioned bleacher seats Walking Shadow provided for attendees) and the stifling humidity ultimately added to the stress of the story in a way that helped rather than hindered the storytelling.

Performances were great across the board. Lang embodied a ditziness and a warmth that made Ray both eyeroll worthy and lovable and he rocked that titular Red Speedo through tantrums and fight scenes from the very first moment of the play to the very last.

Special kudos also to LaNave, whose fast-talking character made LaNave responsible for at least half of the total lines, and to Stephens for capturing the vast emotional range of the coach character. Forstrom did as much as she possibly could in a piece that dramatically fails the Bechdel test.

Unfortunately, by the time you, dear reader, see this in print, Walking Shadow Theatre’s run of Red Speedo will be over. Hopefully you made it to the production without Lavender’s direct recommendation, but if not, I would recommend checking their website, linked below, for other upcoming projects. As mentioned previously this theater company consistently puts on thought provoking pieces in unique venues and it is always better to be among the first theater goers to experience these little gems than the last.

Walking Shadow Theatre Co 
www.walkingshadow.org