Talking Horse Productions put on the play “The Baltimore Waltz” last weekend at the Talking Horse Theatre. Sister and brother Anna, played by Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri, and Carl, played by Adam McCall, took the audience on a wild trip through Europe as an act of desperation to find a cure for Acquired Toilet Disease (ATD) and spend more time together as siblings. Although the play consisted of many different characters, only three people were cast. The three actors successfully brought us from Baltimore to all over Europe and back again, but took us out of the world of the play several times by breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience.
Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri played the role of Anna, the protagonist and Carl’s sister. During one scene, Anna is displaying all seven stages of terminal illness. Palmieri has to change emotions quickly to display each stage one right after the other. The first stage was depression. Palmieri lay in bed very still for most of this part, her face expressionless, and her voice much softer than usual. She switches to portraying anger and starts moving around move, raising her voice and using sharp gestures with her hands. She ends the scene with acceptance, where her voice is back to the normal volume and she is moving naturally (not too much and not too little). Anna also had many sexual escapades throughout the performance. Palmieri portrayed Anna’s horniness by biting her lip, deepening her voice when talking, and moving her body very close to the man she was trying to seduce. By the end of the play, after Anna’s comical recount of her adventure in Europe (or what could have been), we switch back to a serious mood in Baltimore as the doctor delivers the bad news of her brother’s death. Palmieri portrays Anna’s acceptance by talking softly, sighing and not moving from her seat on the stool. This is in sharp contrast to the beginning of the play where Anna seems to be having trouble accepting the doctor’s verdict, asking him a lot of questions, raising her voice and moving around a lot.
Adam McCall played the role of Carl, who ultimately ends up dying from the fictional ATD. We’re first introduced to Carl as he is working at the library with children. Even though the children weren’t there, McCall stayed focused on the floor in front of him, where the children would have been, and spoke slowly than normal and in a higher pitch, as most people usually talk to children. Accompanied with the soundtrack of children laughing, it seemed as if they were really there. His voice switched to a higher pitch when he turned away from the kids to yell at his boss, who seemed to be treating him unfairly. McCall was also very animated, using hand gestures to help get across his message. When yelling angrily towards his boss, his hand movements were faster and bigger than in the rest of the performance. Carl had planned most of his and Anna’s trip to Europe on the idea that he would meet up with an Italian doctor who had experimental drugs that might help ATD. When in Europe, he and Anna often had close encounters with a sketchy Italian, and that made Carl very nervous since Anna didn’t know about it. McCall portrayed his nervousness by making his movements faster and jerky. He also talked faster and answered Anna’s questions faster than normal. He looked around him more often and tried to push Anna, and himself, away from the situation.
Nick Tittone played the role of the “third man” in the play. His character changed from a doctor, a waiter, a security guard, a mad scientist, and many more. He had some pretty quick character changes, with several of them being right on stage in front of the whole audience. He only had very minimal costume changes, like putting on a hat or a jacket or taking them off, so most of his character change relied heavily on his acting. He was able to change his voice for nearly every character. He began the performance as a doctor, delivering the news to Anna and Carl that Carl was ill and there was nothing he could do. His character then switched to a sketchy Italian, switching to an Italian accent and changing his body movements. As a doctor, he stood up straight and spoke clearly and professionally. As the Italian, he moved around more and acted more casual, with his words slurring together more and seeming more relaxed. He played a French waiter, with a comical French accent, and stood very straight and stiff, making his character much different from all his other characters. When he played the mad scientist doctor he had on a crazy wig to match his movements. He moved very stiffly, forced and jerky, making him seem crazy, and justifies Anna’s hesitation towards him. His voice matched his movements, as he spoke in a higher pitched voice and his rhythm was jerky and unsteady. All of the quick changes in his movement and voice helped us transition from character to character and remain in the world of the play.
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