Recovering from Caroline O’Connor’s “Bombshells”

On Friday night, a bomb went off on the Rep’s Quadracci Powerhouse stage. To be fair, the bomb was a six-part explosion of talent detonated single-handedly by Australian actress Caroline O’Connor, performing the international hit Bombshells.

Written especially for O’Connor by playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, the one-woman show is a rollercoaster of emotion comprised of lightning-fast snapshots into the lives of six very different women. Friday evening’s show was the American premiere, and went off without a hitch.

As dramatic lights rose and fell like so many tidal waves, each character was born before our eyes.

It is no surprise that Bombshells has sold out in some of the great venues of the world. Indeed, watching O’Connor switch effortlessly between roles was akin to watching dusk fade to midnight: while you see it happening before you, it’s difficult to say when exactly the darkness sets in.

The show opens upon a day in the life of a busy suburban mother, caffeinating and cursing herself to meet the needs of three children. Never in any entertainment experience have I heard the f-bomb dropped so liberally, nor with such just cause. Watching her was like watching an acrobat juggling, the only difference being that acrobats juggle for sport and by choice. Mothers know it is a necessary evil.

After an on-stage costume change (yes, all costume changes occur on-stage, and are beautifully choreographed), O’Connor reemerges as an abandoned wife coping with her loss by diverting her attention toward succulents.

Dressed like an aged girl scout, she waxes poetic about love lost and dignity regained. But the search for enlightenment comes with its own hang-ups: in an on-stage PowerPoint presentation, O’Connor emphasizes her message with images of a very phallic cactus plant.

The final character in Act One is an Irish schoolgirl caught between a rock and a hard place. I dare not say anything more about this character, as the unexpected surprises in this piece are a delight. Prepare to laugh. Hard.

Act two introduces us to three additional characters as a whimsical bride-to-be, a high-class widow and an aging American diva take the stage, filling it up with their larger-than-life personalities. Each share their thoughts and moments of self doubt in such a way that the audience can’t help but relate on some level.

Through the entire production, one could hear the audible reactions to every scenario. Women pointed and shouted, “This is my life!” or, “Oh god, I feel that way all the time.” Being a member of a living crowd was a unique experience, something that carried us all on stage with O’Connor.

Bombshells is like reliving (or in some cases, pre-living) the rites of passage we face as women. Hardships, excitement, love and hope swell and burst in the laughter and tears written over the audience’s collective faces.

At the end of the show, I was tired. I quite literally needed to recover and collect myself from the experience of moving so quickly between the intimate moments of each character’s life. O’Connor displayed at every moment what it means to be a woman: a beauty, a wreck, a memory. She was a bombshell, in every sense of the word.

Bombshells runs until December 19^th. All performances will be held at The Rep’s Quadracci Powerhouse Theater located in the Milwaukee Center at 108 E. Wells Street. For more information on performances, special events, or ticket purchases, call The Rep’s Ticket Office at 414-224-9490.