ROME - On the evening of Nov. 19 The American University of Rome performed its original theatrical piece “Glimpses of Us.” The play consisted of four scenes, all linked together through the overriding plot line of the stories from a found diary of an clearly adventurous Granny.

 The first of the four scenes was called “Animus.” The scene portrayed a tense job interview between two women who had known each other for a long time. The tensions between the two were revealed to the audience, while the power imbalance between the job seeker and employer brought to light the desperate course of action that we are willing to take in the modern world to find employment. The scene’s denouement saw the challenge of past feelings become too much for the job seeker, as in the last moment before the stage lights went out, we saw her become seriously agitated and begin to shout.

 Next came a much more light-hearted burlesque. The scene portrayed the vindicative fight between two women for the Prince of the land “with the most beautiful feet.” The climax of the scene came as one of the women tried to kill the other one with a poisoned apple in jealousy. However, at that very moment, a “sacred” squirrel scurried into the scene (operated with precision by Lucia Guerrieri who also wrote the scene),  causing the apple to drop to the floor which the squirrel then subsequently ate. Despite the murderous intentions, the two women were able to make up and blamed the Prince “with the most beautiful feet” who was arrested for the death of the “sacred” squirrel.

 In a brief interval from the main action of the performance, Eden Liu sang a beautiful rendition of John Legend’s All of me which had everyone in the audience either tapping their foot or singing along.

 After this brief break came the third scene called “A collection of letters smudged by tears.” This was perhaps the most tense scene, based upon a police interrogation of a woman whose sister had gone missing. The scene portrayed the varying recollections of the events that had taken place, before the police pinned the woman down, categorically suggesting that she was responsible for her sister’s murder, citing the fact that she had fabricated all the letters her sister supposedly wrote, as she was holding the exact same pink pen used for the letters. The woman then came clean, saying she had murdered her sister and then discarded the body somewhere next to the motorway. The reason: her sister had become pregnant with the child of the man the woman loved.

 The final scene of “Glimpses of Us” hilariously depicted a group camping trip which went slightly wrong after an outgoing ex-boyfriend proposed to his ex-girlfriend who had been hiding from everyone that she was in a relationship with a female member of the group. The scene showed the very best of outrageous humour, featuring fights with bears and naïve decision making and comments. The final sequence of the play showed all the air being cleared between the characters, and as any kept secrets were shared.

 The audience was rapturous with applause, as an appreciation for the time and effort that had gone into the highly entertaining play. Special thanks should go to Nalu Gruschks, Lucia Guerrieri, Mia Katarina Vujicic and Liliana Zimberg, the writers of the four scenes. Equally thanks go to all the actors and production team: Bruno Bielecki, Sofia Brushtein, Madison Current, Richie Figueroa, Jayden Forsness, Ana Franco, Blythe Graser, AJ Keesler, Ayma Larroza, Eden Liu, Ellis Louda, Lenka Raicevic, Lenka Raicevic, Nichole Reed, Meena Sumagin, and  Jamilya Tuganbekova.

 Overall, it was an extremely impressive and entertaining evening which all in attendance thoroughly enjoyed.

tjpw