I just love good acting

The material is tough to watch at times, and of course some folks here in the Bible Belt are just going to lose their religion over the language, but Del Shores' "The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife" just opened at Theatre Alliance (Winston-Salem) tonight, and it is intense and awesome. Two of my favorite actors, whom I am also lucky enough to call friends, play the lead couple, locked in an abusive marriage that meets all the classic characteristics. A friend in the trailer park is trying to help the wife out, and the newly-arrived five-times-married slut across the way is helping the husband out of his pants.

We had seen three Del Shores plays at T.A. in the past -- one of which, "Sordid Lives," I actually liked. But you can clearly tell that he decided to go serious with TTATOATTH. And serious it is, for the most part, though there are certainly some laugh lines. Especially for the two leads, played by Cheryl Ann Roberts and Mikey Wiseman, it's a physical, and physically demanding, time on stage. They make it very, very believable, almost uncomfortably so -- which is, of course, the point. We're looking unflinchingly at a bastard of a husband doing everything he can to demean and intimidate his wife, and blame his many failings directly on her rather than looking in the mirror. Painful stuff, but with those two leads and strong support, extremely well presented.

As I've said before, not every T.A. presentation is a favorite or even good. This one, however, for someone who wants some serious in his theater from time to time, is an absolute winner.