'Beneath Rippling Water' wows Pasadena audiences

---Theatre Review

Astounding doesn´t adequately describe Sybyl Walker´s dynamic performance in "Beneath Rippling Water," currently playing at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena.

In the one-woman, three-act play that she also wrote, Walker narrates and performs over a dozen roles; male and female, young and old, wise and simple…all victims and survivors (and those who enable them) of the elusive thing called Love.

In T-BABY, Walker plays a young "been-around-the-block" black woman who attends a Self-help Retreat for Sisters who've been jilted by men who claimed to love them. She "takes the pledge" to stand on her own,but later confesses to "slipping off the wagon" when a very fine brother named Rudy seduces her.

Walker´s smooth segue from the hip sister to a cool brother (changing only body language and voice) is mesmerizing. The audience totally believes each character.

In the poignant 'period' piece MISS PEARL, Walker plays a demure, Southern lady who meets a cultured gentleman at a dance. Their love blossoms, but when he discovers her dark secret, it´s her pride – and not the truth – that keeps them apart.

Again, this amazing actress switches between the refined Pearline and the courtly Sherman Alan Bellingham III, by simply lowering her voice, changing posture, and picking up a fedora.

LAVENDAR is perhaps the most captivating tale of all. In it, Walker plays a young ´special needs´ child whose view of life is simple but exuberant. The little girl dreams of beautiful, expressive words that she believes are locked inside her head.

When she meets a brain-injured boy named Robert at the annual "Special Citizen´s Picnic" and experiences the innocent sweetness of first love, those dream-words bubble to the surface. "See, I told you!" she exclaims. In the moving scene that follows, she eagerly watches the clock and counts the days – 365 in all – until she´ll see him again.

So believable is Walker´s portrayal of these two ´simple´ children that you must close your eyes and shake your head to return to the present.

What talent! What versatility! "Beneath Rippling Water" is a play you will ache to see again and again.

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 3 pm (except Mother´s Day Weekend) through may 17.

Tickets are $25 ($20 for students and seniors). Call (866) 811-4111 for reservations or visit www.fremontcentretheatre.com

The Fremont Centre Theatre is located at 1000 Fremont Ave (at El Centro), South Pasadena, CA 91030. (Plenty of free parking behind the theater)