Cleveland Public Theatre’s ‘The Body Play’ illustrates the battle of ‘brain vs. pain’

In Madison Wetzell’s world premiere work “The Body Play”, Amy (Rachel Gold) is sick and she knows it. Her Body (Andrea de la Fuente) reminds her of their state all the time. She suffers from debilitating fatigue and constant joint pain. It is to the point that accomplishing simple tasks such as getting out of bed and going to work are almost too much for her to bear. Thus begins a journey through the American medical and insurance industry in hopes of finding if not a cure at least some answers and a manner in which to cope.

“The Body Play” is not so much about the fractured health care/insurance industry but more about our relationships between our mind and body, our doctors and care givers, our insurance reps (human and otherwise), our significant others, our work associates and the all important HR Department.

The play focuses on Amy, a healthy vibrant woman with a good job and a loving relationship with her girl friend (Kelly Dunn) who goes out of her way to comfort. Amy’s body, on the other hand is a petulant and seemingly spoiled child due to the constant chronic state of pain that radiates from every joint and the accompanying fatigue.

As the play progresses, Amy/Body go the rounds of traditional medicine with some detours into alternative practices involving yoga, acupuncture and a “wellness guru” while dealing with work pressures that leads to unemployment and an electronic rat’s maze of phone call to the insurance company representative (Day Ash). It is only when a new doctor (Erin Moran) starts asking the right questions that Amy is able to realize a thin glimmer of hope in at least finding out why she feels like crap.

Rachel Gold portrays an Amy who is well armed with smart dialogue that cuts to the quick. It is the mind that is unaffected by the disease which is one of the puzzling aspects. Andrea de la Fuente as Body has far fewer spoken lines so most of her time on stage is physical work. Watching Amy/Body wrestle both verbally and physically takes this situation home to many of us. The rest of the cast consists of Kelly Dunn, Day Ash and Erin Moran who work as an ensemble of the collection of “outside forces” that while poised to help in some cases are detrimental to the situation.

There is also a telling scene towards the end when Amy recalls that as a child she was bitten and stung over most of her body by hornets that nearly proved fatal yet she never mentions this fact to any of the medical practitioners giving thought that what we leave out in the medical examinations can be as important as what we say.

The scenic design by Ezra August Bender is a bit ethereal consisting of a raised bedroom platform on one end and a wicker hanging chair on the other. Various cubes, rolling stools and a hospital bed are brought in as props during the performance. There is also hanging ropes and cloth pieces dangling from the light rigging as well as a blue cargo net. Cleveland Public Theatre has also tried something different by using a Traverse seating configuration with rows of chairs arranged on sets of risers on either side of the stage. The only complaint is that with the actors not being mic’d it became difficult to hear the dialogue when they were turned away.

As for the actors, they are terrific. Rachel Gold as Amy is brash, sarcastic and genuinely funny as the brain that is having problems relating to a troubled body. Andrea de la Fuente as Body is all physical comedy with little verbiage. When I come down ill I turn into the same spoiled brat that she portrays (just ask my wife). The ensemble of Kelly Dunn, Day Ash and Erin Moran are tasked with playing multiple speaking roles using a variety of accents and characteristics to give a different look to each identity. They pull it off seemingly effortlessly showing how much work went into this production which brings us to the director, Paige Conway who is tasked with bringing this tightly packed work in a 90 minute (no intermission) time frame. Bravo!

The lighting design by Sierra Smith is vital to this performance aiding in segregating the various scenes so we can differentiate between them. Amanda Rowe-Van Allen’s costuming gets everyone togged out in professional medical dress while Amy, Body and Girlfriend are seemingly muted to emphasize their irrelevance to the big picture of health care. The sound design by Angie Hayes has all manners of medical sounding beeps and boops in the background over a back cover of indie low-fi sounds.

Life is always a journey that can be made tougher through health problems that lead to dealing with the “care” system. This show is less an expose of difficulties and more a search for a relationship between body and mind. It is a show that will definitely get you thinking which is just what good theater should do from time to time.

The Cleveland Public Theatre’s production of “The Body Play” will be on stage in the Gordon Square Theatre located at 6415 Detroit Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio through April 13, 2025. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.cptonline.org/ or call (216) 631-2727 ext. 501.