World Premiere at Denver Fringe features strong script and two powerful performances

Some shows leave you laughing. Others leave you thinking. Reel, which premiered at the Bug Theatre as part of Denver Fringe, did both, and left me with a pit in my stomach.

This tight, two-person drama is a gut punch in the best way, with a killer script and even stronger performances.

Reel is a two-hander written and directed by Denver-raised, Brooklyn-based director and dramaturg Sam Theobald, starring Ty Julia Goldberg as Rachel and Brynn Gauthier as Kate. The plot revolves around a real-time confrontation between a catfished woman and her catfishers.

The piece begins with a simple set designed to represent a spacious hotel room. There’s a bed, a desk, a little mini fridge, and we see Rachel coming from this wedding event. It starts with her slowly taking her shoes off. She has herself a drink and then all of a sudden — bang — Kate enters the scene to shake everything up.

Following a tense initial interrogation, it’s quickly revealed that these two have a pretty colorful past. Kate is there to confront Rachel because they had been in an online relationship for about a year, during which Rachel pretended to be a man named Ben and devised a series of elaborate ruses to maintain this disguise for quite some time.

Kate is ultimately heartbroken as a result of being catfished and is still struggling to recover, so she comes here to essentially reverse the power dynamic of their previous relationship. Previously, Rachel, as Ben, had been in control, misleading Kate and refusing to let her in; now Kate has appeared unexpectedly and is asking Rachel to participate in a series of tests that she is unaware of but which are supposed to reveal something important about her.

Two great performances

While I won’t spoil what that big test is about, it is an intriguing framing device that allows these two characters to communicate in a way that was previously impossible for them.

Reel rests on two great performances from Ty Julia Goldberg and Bryn Gauter. Gauthier’s Kate has a devilish twinkle in her eye as she dunks on Rachel for the duration of the show, performing power play after power play until she finally gets one literal last laugh before exiting the hotel room with a renewed sense of purpose.

In contrast, Goldberg’s portrayal of Rachel is much more reserved throughout, as we learn that her life has been ruined as a result of Kate’s online post criticizing her behavior. Goldberg’s performance makes it clear that Rachel still loves Kate and is devastated by the events of the play, which culminate in Rachel being completely broken, turning off the light in her hotel room and returning to her phone in the virtual world.

This is a much more dramatic piece than other shows I’ve seen at the Fringe. This is a capital-D drama, but it’s very well done, with crisp pacing, deft direction by Theobald, and two outstanding performances that really make this script sing.

And speaking of the script, it’s a really strong debut for a new work, particularly a piece that contains so many complicated themes, particularly around the LGBTQ+ community, as well as how we portray ourselves online. These themes are handled well and made me curious to see more.

I’d love to see this play expanded so that I could spend more time with these characters and see how the repercussions of that relationship continue to affect both of them today. You get a really strong sense of how this relationship has impacted Kate, but you don’t get as much of that from Rachel because she isn’t given as much of a chance to share her feelings because Kate is holding her hostage.

The script references other characters, including new partners and family members, whose inclusion could help flesh out the world and show how these characters act when they aren’t together. Theobald’s script alluded to a rich world and complicated inner lives for both characters, but we only see them in flashes due to the high-stakes confrontation at the heart of the story.

Though Fringe demands a tight runtime, this narrative could have used a little more breathing room. But hey, you know what they say — always leave the audience wanting more, and I definitely want more real time with the characters in Reel.