Blind Spot Good in Spots

There are a lot of things to love about Annex Theater's production of Blind Spot (currently running each Friday and Saturday, now through Feb. 14). After all, the play is nothing if not imaginative.

The basic plot is as follows: eight-year-old Kristy Vanderkamp finds herself in a miniature world, reporting as citizen journalist about the inner workings of life under the bed, in the refrigerator, the laundry room, and other locations throughout the house. Wherever she goes, she finds a new, intricate community of individuals whose neuroses mirror those of our world. Their culture may be odd (lint farmers, girls who ride silverfish from the under-the-bed farms to the booming metropolis of the fridge), but the trials and tribulations they face are not unlike our own.

Even though it was not Seattlest's favorite theater experience ever, it did leave us thinking about perspective and culture for a good few hours. As a writer, we appreciate a literary experience that leaves us wondering about the world in general, so we can't completely dismiss the quality of storytelling in this play.

Still, the morals of the story are thinly veiled and predictable, the songs have weird, forgettable melodies, the acting is kind of a mixed bag, and at nearly three hours long, it starts to feel a bit redundant after a while. Someone with a less flappable attention span may enjoy this show a smidge more than we did. But, despite its occasional shortfall, Blind Spot is nothing if not imaginative and often downright silly. If you can sit still for three hours, you'll definitely get at least a few good laughs out of it.

Fridays and Saturdays, Jan. 16-Feb. 14 // Annex Theater // $12 general, $5 students