THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS
AIRDATE: February 13, 2004
Next-door neighbors at the Old Globe's
theaters, one group should take wing and the other should hit the road. But
both are stuck in place.
In William Inge's quiet classic,
"Bus Stop," a group of misfits is storm-stranded in a Kansas café.
The 1956 film proved to be the dramatic breakthrough for Marilyn Monroe. But
the play is really an ensemble piece. Not much happens though there's a
seething sexuality beneath the surface: the café owner beds the bus driver. The
wide-eyed ingénue sidles up to the world-weary professor. And the seductive
saloon chanteuse half-heartedly deflects the advances of the virile and
impetuous cowboy. The production's problems surface in Joe Hardy's 'Director's
Notes.' He sees these country folk as innocents from a simpler time. In fact,
each is dragging around a fair amount of baggage, which generally remains
unexamined here. Although all the actors are competent, few plumb the pain and
suffering in these characters' lives. Jonathan McMurtry's professor is an
outstanding exception, with his drunk, dissolute pedantry, his obsession with
young girls and his own self-loathing. The set, costumes and lighting are
spot-on, but the pace is pokey and we don't ever get around to caring too much
about anyone.
In the recently written, newly revised "Sky Girls,"
playwright Jenny Laird dramatizes a fascinating chapter from WWII -- the Women
Airforce Service Pilots program, which trained 1000 females to fly military
aircraft. Not only were these 'WASPs' never given military status, they were
sabotaged by their misogynistic male counterparts. The life-force behind the
program was Jackie Cochran, a real-life, record-breaking powerhouse pilot who
initiated the training project and fought Congress to get the gals militarized.
The play premiered in Chicago last year, in a somewhat different
form. It still needs work. Though Cochran and her Congressional testimony
feature prominently -- and repetitively -- the piece focuses on five fictional
members of the final class of WASP cadets, as they strive to earn their wings.
It's 1944, on an Army Air Force base in a dusty Texas outpost, and much of the
women's stage-time is spent getting in and out of flight harnesses. The rest is
lying about on cots, acting more like sorority sisters than pilot pioneers.
Each character is a Type, geographically and personally. We don't learn much
about them, which makes us unlikely to care what happens to them. Judith
Hawking puts in a potent performance as Cochran, and Sarah Rafferty plays the
loud-mouthed rabble-rouser with welcome spunk. Despite the terrific source
material, there's just too little action or dramatic conflict here. The sound,
costumes and lighting convincingly evoke the period; the set is uncluttered,
but the direction is sometimes fussy. Unlike its airborne characters, the play
never really gets off the ground.
©2004 Patté Productions Inc.