Betsy and Patty Find Out
They are best friends, outstanding in their field, though their personalities and approaches to life are very different, Betsy outspoken and direct, always asking questions, always “that person” who needs to know not only what is going on but why, finding all her friends queuing for reasons unspecified, instantly triggering a previous trauma and raising suspicions.
More timid Patty happy to accept that by definition a queue will have something good at the front, otherwise why would anyone join, she appreciates what they have even as she aspires to become a painter, not blessed with the body of a dancer, content to accept the limitations of her life rather than brave the possibly dangerous unknown beyond the walls.
Delightfully performed by Carrie Keranen and Jennifer DeRosa and a silent but expressive herd of supporting cast, Betsy and Patty Find Out is written and directed by Aaron Francis, Betsy maybe the activist but Patty the emotionally smarter, seeing the best in others and willing to compromise and accept the shortcomings of their lives in order to enjoy what she has even as she admires Betsy’s attitude: “To fight even when you know you can’t win is inspirational.”
The precise circumstances of the friends never stated but clear to those with perspective, Betsy and Patty Find Out can be applied to many situations where obedience is equivalent to control, the MAGA and anti-vaccination movements, workers being told they have no need for unions as their employers have their best interests at heart, politicians making rulings on vested interests, Betsy believing that solidarity and collective action can overturn entrenched obstacles, a better world waiting beyond the walls.
Betsy and Patty Find Out continues at the Bedlam Theatre until Sunday 30th August
