Water by the Spoonful

Before the play begins, there is an extremely descriptive list of characters as well as an extremely descriptive description of the set.  There are some very intentional choices made in this script that truly transport the reader or audience to a different world.  The world that takes place online is more obviously different and unusual while the scenes at Subway and between Yazmin and Elliot seem much more normal.  At first, as I read the play, I absolutely could not make sense of how these two different story lines would ever combine.  When I began reading the play I read the descriptions of the characters, but when I actually got to the script part, I completely forgot that Haikumom and Odessa were the same person.  They are called by different names in different scenes.  I was actually so surprised and delighted by that when I figured it out again.  That is something that is interesting about reading a play, rather than watching it.  I guess I could have—should have—known that Odessa was Haikumom, but for some reason that fact did not stay in my head.  So, when I discovered it, it was fantastic.  It was almost like dramatic irony in reverse.  Something that would not happen for someone watching the play, but could happen for someone reading it.  In the very first scene where the realities begin to overlap, it was a bit surreal.  There was also the added element of the ghost.  So, not only are the worlds of online and real life intersecting, but also there’s a ghost that’s there too.  It created a moment where I found myself questioning whether it was Haikumom speaking or Odessa.  Who could hear one another in that moment?  Obviously Elliot was alone, but who was aware of one another in that scene?  It begins to show the two worlds colliding.  The online group quoting all of these cheesy slogans, in a strange way sort of narrates Elliot and his punching bag.