THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS AIRDATE: March 04, 2005
How do you like your comedy? – Leaning more to the sitcom or
the Britcom? The farcically silly or the darkly satiric? A big, brash
extravaganza or a tiny, intimate tête à tête? Well, choose your comedic poison
– or knock yourself out and see both.
The La Jolla Playhouse is inaugurating its new Potiker
Theatre with a sparklingly screwy adaptation of “Private Fittings,” the first
full-length play written by the 19th century father of French farce,
Georges Feydeau. Thanks to the adaptation of Mark O’Donnell, a former writer
for ‘Saturday Night Live’ and librettist for the musical, “Hairspray,” the show
is re-set in San Diego, among the well-heeled with too much time on their
hands. Eric is a spiritual coach; his new wife is a dimwitted clothes-horse and
his shrewish mother-in-law, who has a robotic dog, is a writer of pop-psych
self-help screeds like “How to Hate Your Mate.” Eric is hungrily pursuing one
of his patients, who’s married to an ex- Navy SEAL who has a mistress, who
happens to be a former hooker-friend of Eric’s, and she’s also the long-lost
wife of Eric’s boring buddy, Drew. In place of the indispensable servant of
Feydeau’s day, we get Steve, the surfer-dude pool-guy who’s Eric’s personal
assistant. Inane intrigue and hyperactive hijinks ensue, as everyone converges
on a Pacific Beach condo that’s supposed to be a trysting place for several
amorous adulterers. The set is beautiful, and magically changed by the hi-tech
wonders of the spiffy new theater – and a bunch of cute-looking stagehands on
roller skates. Director Des McAnuff is having a field day with his new playpen
and his cast – which is quite amusing, and exceedingly good at high-speed
shenanigans. Farce isn’t everyone’s cup of froth, but if you go for lusty
frivolity that skewers our society with soap opera deception and infidelity,
the La Jolla Playhouse is set on the right channel for you.
Now, if you prefer snickering cynicism, you’ll snuggle up to
the Fritz Theatre’s production of “Vigil.” This deliciously nasty little
trifle, by Canadian Morris Panych, was a Fritz success almost a decade ago, and
it thrived at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Now, Ron Choularton reprises his
bravura performance as the colorless loser who comes to the bedside of his
ailing auntie, so he can get the inheritance and go. But much to his mounting
dismay, the old bat just hangs on. We watch him erupt and disintegrate as the
elderly woman watches, wide-eyed and mute. Under Rosina Reynolds’ unfussy
direction, Pat DiMeo does a great deal with her silences, while Choularton
natters on, both hilarious and heartbreaking.
So, what’s it gonna be? The puff pastry or the strychnine?
Either way, you’ll get a bellyful of laughs.
©2005 Patté Productions Inc.