Written by orange• February 13, 2025• 3:10 am• Electric Company Theatre, fullerton, Review, Theater, Uncategorized

Electric Company presents: White Rabbit, Red Rabbit @ The Muck in Fullerton – Review

photo credit: Electric Company Theatre

Written by Patrick Chavis

Electric Company Theatre Presents: White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, playing now at the Muckenthaler Center in Fullerton, February 10 – March 5, 2025.

Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour’s experimental one-person show White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, which premiered in 2011, is unreviewable in some ways because of its format. The show can vary night after night because of the actor and the audience, though I’ll be the judge of that!

On opening night, Actor and Co-Artistic Director of the Electric Theatre Company Callie Prendiville Johnson graced the stage. Johnson is the first in a long line of performers to tackle this script on the Muckenthaler stage without hearing or reading a word before their performance.

In other words, every performer that commits to this show promises this will be a cold reading of the script, making the outcome of their performance unpredictable for the unsuspecting audience and performer.

Set Design:

Callie walked on stage level with the audience, between two large, red, worn wooden doors. A black curtain is set behind the doors, with a red chair of the same color as the doors set to the left. The lighting in the room stayed rather dim, with a background light of blue. A black stool to the right chair held two glasses of water filled halfway, a vial with what looked like white powder was next to the water, along with a gray step stool.

The anticipation of what was to come was intoxicating, and my heartbeat quickened, but I did my best to keep my composure. What did I step into, I thought to myself. My palms were sweaty, and I was nervous, but on the surface, I was calm and ready to see what was coming next.

Story:

A big part of this, even more than a traditional scripted play, is keeping much of what happens secret so you can have a unique and personal experience at every show. In the broadest sense, Callie, the night’s performer, read from the words of Nassim Soleimanpour, who, at the time, was a conscientious objector to obligatory military service in the country. Watching this was like being in a unique time capsule but projected through whoever the speaker was that night, and on our night, the speaker was Callie.

Acting:

Though apprehensive at times (understandable) about some of the things asked of her, Johnson guided the audience through the script with a clear tone and funny-spirited approach to many of the tasks.

The play explored deep themes of control, despair, authority, obedience, and more with its imagery. Surprisingly, the show doesn’t hold you too long, but on the journey home, the thoughts you’re left with afterwards linger.

I have never experienced anything like this in the theatre. It’s a bold, creative, witty, and challenging endeavor for the actors and the audience that steps into Soleimanpour’s world for a few minutes.