DEAD WRONG
Katherine Glover · Minneapolis, USA
by Katherine Glover
Drama
Years after surviving a brutal assault, a young woman receives new evidence that forces her to question her own memories of the crime — and to face the possibility that she has sent an innocent man to prison. A solo drama inspired by actual events.
Tickets are 2 for 1 on opening night.
Deal is only available at the venue, not for advance tickets.
Reviewed by Jamie Portman.
This is as gripping a piece of theatre as you are likely to encounter anywhere in Ottawa this year. It’s a solo piece, but there are times when you feel that the bare stage is occupied by the many ghosts who haunt its central character, a young woman tormented by the knowledge that she has sent the wrong person to prison for a brutal assault against her.
Katherine Glover’s play — provocative, unsettling and always dramatically arresting — raises important questions about the machinery of justice in our society and how it had grievously malfunctioned. The theme is a familiar one these days, but here it’s more than just a retread. Glover, a Minnesota journalist, was inspired by actual events in writing a play which owes much of its impact to the unexpected but always dramatically valid turns it takes. Glover’s own performance as the victim — rueful, troubled, unsparing in her own self-knowledge — glistens with psychological truth.
A winner in every way.
impressive performance, authentically delivered. although the theme is heavy, the story is woven together through the years with all the emotions, including some humorous and uplifting moments, to cut through the deeper torment. a great fringe performance, which could go far beyond!
Capital Critics Circle has posted three reviews:
Iris Winston:
“Just how can she every put matters right, if she was, indeed, dead wrong?
Go — run, don’t walk — to this show to find out.”
Alvina Ruprecht:
“This is excellent theatre with a pedagogical side that succeeds in making its point. Everyone should see this.”
Jamie Portman:
“Glover’s own performance as the victim — rueful, troubled, unsparing in her own self-knowledge — glistens with psychological truth.
A winner in every way.”
http://capitalcriticscircle.com/ottawa_fringe_2012/dead_wrong
Katherine Glover has a powerful piece on her hands. Her background research, and her ability to act the part of a dreadfully attacked woman, have combined to make a memorable piece of theatre. As anyone who reads recent psychological research will know (look up Elizabeth Loftus), eyewitness testimony is a very slippery beast. As someone who was in a three-car pile-up on the Queensway last December (nobody hurt – my car totalled), I can tell you that my supposedly clear recollections even five minutes after the accident turned out to be totally at variance with the information that the officer gleaned from the two drivers ahead of me in the collision. So, beware what you think you know, and come watch this play for the grace and self-deprecating humour with which Megan copes with her pain through the years, and the continuing consequences of current police procedures.
Apartment613 (apt613.ca) is reviewing all the fringe plays at FullyFringed.ca! You can check out our review of Dead Wrong here:
http://www.fullyfringed.ca/?p=1176
Moving and important. I like to consider myself completely independent and objective, but I realized that I can be influenced by peers in subtle and unexpected ways, to the point of no return.
A first-class piece of issue-driven theatre. Don’t miss this one. Glover has distilled several real-life cases of unjust incarceration into a tightly narrated, moving and very plausible drama.