The revealing Fringe postcard for Peninsula gives away two important things about the play: 1) It shows the main character, Tiago, floating naked and facedown in water. 2) It lets us know, without a doubt, that Tiago is built. Actor Josué Gutiérrez Guerra must leave the theater every night with a strut, considering the passionate admiration paid to his body throughout the evening. If Tiago weren’t so handsome—and he really is—he probably wouldn’t get into so much trouble. Peninsula interweaves Tiago’s life as a migrant worker in northern Michigan with his violent past in Brazil. In both, he has the habit of getting involved with, and seduced by, the wrong people. It’s soap opera–ish but compelling, and playwright Nathan Wright has a way with language. Certain lines are poetic, as when Lake Michigan is described as “the ocean with the tide turned off.” Yet too much of Peninsula is bogged down by obtuse dialogue and repetitive narration. (“He touches my thigh.” “I touch his thigh.”) Despite such frequent breaching of the fourth wall, the characters’ motives remain as murky as the water in an algae-filled lake.—Diep Tran
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