Theater Review: THE WOLVES (Echo Theater Company)

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by Tony Frankel on March 20, 2019

in Theater-Los Angeles

TEEN THE DEVIL
AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA

I’m not really sure if director Alana Dietze could have done anything more with The Wolves, a dramatically inert slice-of-life one act that follows an all-female indoor soccer team over a succession of pre-game warm-ups. Playwright Sarah DeLappe’s Pulitzer-finalist (?!?!?!?!) is awash in the perfect patois of adolescents as they gossip about subjects large and small: menstruation, lesbianism, nerves, game trials, and the Khmer Rouge. What begins as a funny, sometimes searing, indictment of gossiping, belonging, and clique-like behavior (with incredibly tight workout choreography but stretching that looks fake) wears on our nerves after 30 of these 90 minutes because it’s all muscle and no bone to hold it up. Try kicking a soccer goal with a body like that.

photos by Darrett Sanders

The Wolves
Echo Theater Company
Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave.
Fri, Sat, and Mon at 8; Sun at 4
ends on April 22, 2019 EXTENDED to May 6, 2019
for tickets, call 310.307.3753 or visit Echo

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