The Lonely One

115270 original

Using light manipulation and shadow puppetry techniques, the four performers in The Lonely One weave a suspenseful tale with inflections of Agatha Christie and Edgar Allan Poe. It’s actually based on an extract from Dandelion Wine, a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury, but it’s a simple story so there’s no need to be familiar with the book before you see this show.

Set in a town in the American Midwest in 1928, it’s a slow burner: two young ladies, Francine and Lavinia, are on their way to see a Charlie Chaplin film when they decide to cross the dark ravine that divides Lavinia’s house from the movie theatre. It’s an inadvisable move, considering that one young girl from the town is missing, and a dangerous strangler—known as The Lonely One—is still on the loose.

There’s just the right level of murder mystery hamminess at work in this first production from Dotted Line Theatre. Rachel Warr’s Lavinia is elegantly played, though her American accent needs some work. A company co-founder, Warr also wrote the script and directed the play, and it’s a promising debut. But while this particular show has some lovely moments—like its splendid shadow puppetry—the story is so slow that it loses momentum several times throughout the hour. It still comes to a satisfying conclusion but generally The Lonely One needs a sharper narrative and slicker execution. All the same, Dotted Line Theatre certainly seems like a company capable of making arresting work in the future.