Shamaniac theatre review: Intimate road to recovery
Deirdre Lovejoy’s honest stories of healing occasionally stray from focus but remain inspiring
If you’ve ever wondered what happened to Deirdre ‘Dede’ Lovejoy, who survived five seasons of The Wire as assistant state’s attorney Rhonda Pearlman, well, it’s quite a story. In 2009, the year after The Wire wrapped, raddled by a broken engagement, the end of a love affair and the onset of menopause, Lovejoy suffered a series of seizures that left her struggling to walk or talk, and affected her memory to the point where she didn’t realise that the woman caring for her was her own mother.
In her one-woman retracing of that experience and its aftermath, Lovejoy is upfront about the personal demons that swirled around in her life. Even as her career flourished, she battled with alcoholism and learning to accept her sexuality. Her script, which touches upon a freak accident that nearly destroyed her hand, is raw and emotive. But Lovejoy is a warm and endearing performer who turns the small size of the venue to her advantage, creating a sense of intimacy that serves the story well. She also has an engaging turn of phrase, describing the out-of-body sensation she experienced at her lowest ebb as being ‘like a sausage coming out of its casing’.
Lovejoy has clearly endured a lot and tried to pack all of that into Shamaniac, with the result that, as the hour progresses, the material becomes a little rambling. The anecdotes she squeezes in are interesting, but a sharper focus on her illness and the journey she made towards physical, spiritual and emotional recovery, would make for a more dramatically satisfying piece.
Shamaniac, Greenside George Street, until 29 August, 4.15pm.