In their latest Split Second production Game Time, playing at the ODC Theater October 4 & 5, 2024, sisters Aviva and Molly Rose-Williams wield their superpowers of amazing feats of strength and delightful comic timing, to explore their relationship as adults. Shaped loosely around the theme of competitive sports, Game Time use elements of athletics, circus, dance, and storytelling to share universal and personal truths.
Molly & Aviva Rose-Williams in their Split Second production of Game Time at ODC Theater Photo: Hillary Goidell
Growing up as fraternal twins, Aviva and Molly have played countless games as both teammates and competitors. Per their process blog, at one point it seemed they might both head off to join the circus, but their paths diverged after high school, with Aviva becoming a Chinese Pole artist, touring far from home, while Molly attended Middlebury and then returned to the Bay Area to pursue a variety of interests including dance, podcasts, teaching, and writing. Now in their early thirties, they want nothing more than to make something awesome together, but traversing their differences has proven harrowing. You can see it in their bodies. Aviva is taut, balanced and ready for impact at all times. Molly is looser, goofier, her face an animated open book of oversized expressions.
A Chinese Pole is at the center of the stage, their playmate and nemesis. They monkey up and down the pole, climbing hand over hand, ascending on the balls of their feet with apparent ease. They are Peter Pan gazing out from atop a ship mast, as the tension between a well-place foot and a knee hooked around the pole allows them to float above the stage, arms spread, proudly grinning.
Aviva’s body becomes the play structure for Molly’s gambits. Wrapped around the pole, Aviva appears to rest, as Molly perches casually atop her sister. Transforming herself into a staircase upon which Molly may walk down, Aviva bends her legs while twisting down the pole, her shins and thighs becoming the spiral treads. Later, their boundary-pushing curiosity finds them joyously launching off each other or cartwheeling across the stage while holding hands.
The power of Game Time resides in the authenticity of the performers, their psychic connection, and their willingness to share it with an audience. In a section of deep tenderness, Aviva faces us with Molly eclipsed behind her, evident in her outstretched arms which Aviva manipulates with her own, wrapping them around her torso in a hug, or guiding them up so Molly’s hands cup Aviva’s face. Each time that Aviva releases Molly’s hands, they start to fall away from their nurturing posture, and each time Aviva regrasps her sister’s arms and lovingly repositions them to deliver the affection and physical care for which she longs.
Game Time’s vignettes balance the serious with the amusing. The athletes stand at attention as a national anthem plays; it is original and yet unmistakable as a sacred song (Music by Ben Juodvalkis). After a moment of reverent solicitude, their eyes begin to wander, their minds on other things. They attempt to share a banana without appearing unpatriotic, shoving comically large chunks of fruit into their chipmunk-full cheeks. During a respite for the twins, a third, anonymous performer, riles up the crowd wearing an absurd banana mascot costume.
Molly & Aviva Rose-Williams in their Split Second production of Game Time at ODC Theater Photo: Hillary Goidell
These siblings are each other’s biggest fans and cheerleaders. A qualifying round of Chinese Pole tricks comes with all the buzzers and beeps we have come to understand express approval and disqualification. Aviva passes with flying colors, but Molly struggles in the second round. Arms crossed over her chest, Molly slumps forward, a sad clown. Hoping to avoid her sister’s proclivity for the dramatic, Aviva swoops in to literally uplift her twin. Pushing Molly’s torso back to erect, only to find it flopping more deeply with each repetition, Aviva is tireless in her effort to forestall Molly’s slide from disappointment to despondency.
Game Time often finds us marveling at the physical prowess of this duo while appreciating the complexities of their relationship. Grasping the other’s wrist, the siblings lean away from one another, balancing each other’s weight to allow first one and then the other to draw away and touch the ground. Their cooperation gradually morphs into competition, as a greedy desire to best the other plays across their faces. Of course a rivalry exists, as does that inescapable human tendency to compare oneself to another.
Who is best at this, depends on the task at hand. Sometimes it gets nasty, as Aviva openly mocks Molly, and for a moment we aren’t sure if she has gone too far. But Molly fights back, questioning her sister’s prowess and priorities as she asks what was sacrificed to be best? Underneath one can feel the unvoiced query: Was it worth separating us? Luckily for now at least the twins are reunited, collaborating on a fun and surprisingly emotionally rich show nestled within the trappings of circus tricks and slapstick humor.
Review by Jen Norris, published October 8, 2024
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Split Second presents… GAME TIME
ODC Theater, San Francisco
October 4 & 5, 2025
Production Credits
Created and Performed by Aviva & Molly Rose-Williams
Lighting Design by Del Medoff
Music by Ben Juodvalkis
Additional music and audio editing by Molly Rose-Williams
Montage contributors: Abbey, Alex Kushner, Caro, Eli Wirtschafter, Ellen Plane, Ezra, Hannah Levy, Hannah Ruth Brothers, Jesse Huygh, Kate, Kevin (x2!), Lizzy Dutton, Sayr Waters, Sofia, and others who wish to remain anonymous.
A couple songs that already existed: “El Gringo” & “Spaghetti Time” by Alessandro Alessandroni “Dancing in the Moonlight” by Van Morrison
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