Collected Stories @ New Town Theatre

Collected Stories tells the story of two women, two writers, who take on a mentor/student relationship that lasts over the years. This acts as the basis that allows the play to investigate the dynamics between female friendships and work relationships, and the role and effect that rising success has over this as everything begins to change.

There are incredible moments of truth in the relationship between the two women who become almost like mother and daughter, or at least argue that way, and yet are still both intimidated and wary of the other's success. Add to that the writer's need to borrow from life and the collected stories and experiences that these share become a blur of fiction and reality. Or, at the very least, the reality is turned into a fiction.

The two actresses are both very strong; the way they bounce off each other's performances and work together really helps the relationship feel real and honest, even at times when the characters are not being entirely honest with themselves or each other. They ways they affect and advise each other are believable, and they each counter the other enough to show how simultaneously similar and different these two women are. It is an interesting approach to examining the dynamics between women but what is most telling is the setting. One barely-changing room in the heart of lower Manhattan that sees so much over the years but itself remains the same. It suggests that maybe, in spite of everything, that is what happens to people and relationships too. The changes are only ever really on the surface.