Performer Of The Week

Katherine Kelly Lang (BROOKE)

■ Katherine Kelly Lang seared the screen when Brooke confronted Bill about his sudden involvement with Sheila.

When Brooke entered Bill’s house, Lang played her like a woman on a mission — one whose patience for Sheila had drained long before she set foot inside. She made no effort to hide her scorn or her incredulity when Sheila referred to the place as her home, and she desperately searched Bill’s inscrutable face for some sign of the man she knew, and had loved. As she addressed him, Lang leaned in to Brooke’s empathy for the emotional crisis she was certain he was having, heartfelt and frank as she expressed how deeply she cared for him, shooting daggers at Sheila when she interrupted, her voice dripping with vitriol as she hissed, “This is between Bill and me, and whatever you and I have to say to each other should be through the bars of a cell.”

Brooke’s relief was palpable when it appeared she’d gotten through to him — but then he clarified his intention to stay with his new paramour, prompting 50 shades of disbelief to flash across Lang’s face. Never once did the actress allow Brooke’s conviction that Sheila was manipulating Bill to waver, which manifested, by turns, as disgust (over Sheila) and dismay (over Bill), and she could barely choke out the words when she asked Bill, “This is what you call love?” She shed tears freely, both out of frustration and of pain, and it was clearly both a promise (to Bill) and a warning (to Sheila) when she declared that she would not give up until she got through to him and saw Sheila was “rotting in prison”. Shaking with outrage, she made sure this was not lost on Sheila (“You hear me, Sheila?!”), then slammed the door behind her.

Lang uncovered and illuminated every nuance in the script, imbuing Brooke’s every word, every gesture, every expression with purpose and passion. Brooke may have struck out with Bill, but for Lang, the encounter was a clear home run.