Woman Seeks Cuddles ★★★★

Harper (Hannah Strauss), the woman in Ren McAslan’s Woman Seeking Cuddles, is ready to leave her hometown of Scarborough, Ontario, for grad school in New York. She isn’t just ready; she’s downright desperate to leave it all behind. “All” includes a dead-end job, a difficult relationship with her mother, and a series of hook-ups.

In New York, Harper starts her quest for cuddles and, in a couple of weeks, meets someone in an acting class. Still on the hunt, she has a one-night stand with a fellow grad student who has a history of suicide attempts, which is totally not a red flag, and a degrading encounter with a man she met on an app. It doesn’t instill confidence in Harper’s judgment or her taste in men.

In the end, the question left unaddressed is what, if anything, Harper has learned. The multiple traumas she experienced would have left a lesser person curled up in a fetal position on the floor. Yet we don’t see how she copes with them. To McAslan’s credit, he keeps so much happening that the question doesn’t come up until the play is over.

The production, Robyn Ross’ direction, and Hannah Strauss’ acting are excellent. Ross uses every inch of the stage as Harper goes from place to place in her journey. The sound design by Lauren Bradley opens up the claustrophobic set, with cellphone messages and calls from Harper’s men, and dance music for Harper’s club visits. Strauss is an expert mimic and, along with masterful voice control, brings an impressive physicality to her performance. Woman Seeking Cuddles is an event-filled hour with a woman who never heard of loving wisely.

This production was reviewed in preview ahead of the Fringe at The Tank, NYC