Natalie's Reviews

REVIEW: Shiny White Diamonds · June 27, 201                                                                         

MUST SEE!!!

How do we know what we know…

Sara Doyle’s unique approach of logic rhetoric can be heard throughout this play. Allowing for heightened rhythm, and an engaging audience. Musically speaking this play is out of harmony and should be listened to like a piece of Jazz Music.. “to which one must listen for whatever one may find in it"…Balu!
Jemmima disposition of episteme makes for a fabulous character in which (Natalie Miston) executes effortlessly and flawlessly. Travis (Russell Sams) was in Afghanistan retuning home to he sister Jemmima who he hasn’t see in 10 years, struggling with incest, alcoholism and the list continues. His use of allegory movement is fitting and supports his inter struggle. Metaphorically speaking Jem’s and Travis dialectic energy superbly works together. As sane as Claudia (Kym Jackson) may appear, she is the mental power of this piece bringing distinctive ethos to this maze of madness; distinguishing between truths and false.
The stratagem dummy (Katerina Valentinais) is smart, comical and makes for a great break in rhythm.
This play breaks down boarders for contemporary playwrights its style is unconventional, indefinable and should not be judged as a typical piece of theatre. To fully judge this play objectively you must step beyond your typical method of thinking. Shinny White Diamonds makes for a intellectual Absurd play Bertolt Brecht would be proud…GO!

 Shiny White Diamonds

by lloyd knight · June 24, 2010

Beautifully Cast. I saw the show on thier third performance ever in public. If people arent Fringe festival Saavy they should know to expect things on the fly few tech rehearsals and on stage dress rehearsals But thats the fun of it too. Often things are like a work in progress being performed with all the heart and guts an actor can muster up with the writers and directors in the audience biting thier nails.
The Fringe central theater is standard black semi-gloss classic venue- not to comfortable seats but youll be OK. The stage is a half circle and alittle large so its best to keep a small cast away from the front of the stage too much unless you want real intimcy.
The writing is very good. Its could easily fall into academia but doesnt. We are being spoken too truthfully engagingly from a unique place There are a few slips into the works of other writers but its great and its good to hear these passages re worked. I would suggest spelling it out a little bit try to find a way to do it without loosing your beautiful undercurrent.
Images were Tennesee Williams alittle twilight zone. The lead actress playing Jem, was vivienne liegh, elizabeth taylor and agnes morehead all rolled into one. If that isnt exciting you must not be alive.
Her brother used a dead pan approach that he pulled off and should take even further because hes has the ability to firmly plant his prescence on stage. He was incredibly good and hes going to be great after he settles into this. The doll was fun and she was creepy and very much a character. Shes like this big elephant int the room they cant remove. The costume is great. The final actress a high class art whore (Im sorry I dont have names) Again was very effective and showed signs of real power in this part BTW she has a killer body (wink). She is a commanding actor and all she needs to do is run over the place with her power in this case she has every right too. As good as they are I sensed a slight holding back I assume by lack of rehearsal time they are still inbetween some choices I certainly hope its not the directors doing because these actors are gifted and can really shine. The play doesnt need any sombering, Its melodrama all the way very 1940s noir styling early twilight zone tennesee williams etc. All these actors were so good for show three by show five they should have it in thier bones. I would suggest to the director that they stop performing so close to the audience and bring them back a bit so we can watch it more voyeuristically and remove the endless "to the audience conversations especially when the characters entering a scene are knocking and coming from a place behind the actors let them direct thier dialog in that direction. Keep them confined and tight keep the tension onstage.

Hollywood Fringe Festival: Shiny White Diamonds

From L to R: Jemima (Natalie Miston), Dummy (Kat Valentina), and Travis (Russell Sams) in 'Shiny White Diamonds.'

- by Stephanie Taylor for LAist

If you’re wondering what happens when an AWOL soldier, his agoraphobic sister, a strung-out artist/socialite, and a life-sized voodoo doll combine, look no further.

The Fringe (and world) premiere of L.A.-based Australian playwright Sarah Doyle's Shiny White Diamonds borrows elements from the theater of the absurd to boldly and frankly explore the nature of reality and sanity while maintaining a caustic wit.

Slowly acquiring dementia, Jemima (Natalie Miston) lives alone with no other companionship than her life-size doll Dummy (Kat Valentina), a security blanket for a woman who ventures into public merely once a week for her routine purchase of Pantene from the grocery store. That is, until her brother Travis (Russell Sams) appears mysteriously after a decade-long separation. A wanted man, Travis promptly begins a descent into alcoholism, and then one day a drunken beauty queen, Claudia (Kym Jackson) knocks on the door looking to make a phone call. Simultaneously repulsed and fascinated by the misfits she has stumbled upon, she becomes a regular fixture in the siblings’ lives, enticing Jemima out of the house but begging her to bring Dummy along. Beguiled but hardly trusting, both siblings fall prey to Claudia’s charms to varying results.

As Jemima’s dementia increases, the reality of this tentative world grows hazier and hazier. Claudia, determined to achieve lasting greatness as a multimedia artist, attempts to expose the siblings’ secrets with shocking results.

A metaphysical paradox, Shiny White Diamonds calls into question the accuracy of human memory while all the time endowing it with a damning potency. Jemima’s self is obstructed by an opaque veil of what she thinks has occurred, concealing the ultimate reality from herself, her world and the audience.

Sams and Jackson both give solid, albeit uninspired, performances, but Miston’s ethereal Jemima tersely captures the childlike innocence of insanity with a skilled pathos. But Valentina’s Dummy manages to be simultaneously funny and spooky, proving the significance of physical characters.

Predicated by workshops in Australia, New York and London, Shiny White Diamonds came to Doyle while living in New York City in 2005, inspired by a “general populus equally as materialistic as it was neurotic.” Doyle was initially concerned how to create a character arc for a stuffed toy, a feat she has gone on to accomplish quite adeptly. Shiny White Diamonds embodies the spirit of the Fringe in its quirky willingness to ask questions and refuse to provide platitudes as answers.

Tickets are $8. Remaining performances: tonight @ 10 pm and Fri., June 25 @ 7:30 pm. Fringe Central (Theatre of Arts @ 1625 North Las Palmas