THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS AIRDATE: February 10, 2006
Women who dream: One wants love and security. Another
craves sexual and intellectual freedom. And a third is compelled to liberate
the tortured souls of the dead.
At UCSD, “Gum” certainly gives you something to
chew on. The provocative play by former San Diegan Karen Hartman concerns two
well-off young sisters living in an unnamed, fundamentalist Muslim country
where their faces and bodies must be covered, sexuality is forbidden and gum is
contraband, thought to contain an insidious foreign aphrodisiac. Inspired by an
Egyptian news story about the perils of chewing gum, this piercing one-act is
linguistically violent and poetic, feminist and universal. In the San Diego
premiere, the characters, especially the feisty, rebellious sister and her
compliant younger sib, are given heart, soul and sensuous scenes, compellingly
performed by actors Liz Elkins and Hilary Ward, under the guidance of acclaimed
guest director Chay Yew. Amid the confines of chaperones, sexual constraints
and arranged marriages, there is a surreptitious, orgiastic joy-ride; but throughout,
the threat of brutal female circumcision looms in the symbolically lush but
walled-in garden. This ‘Gum’ leaves quite an aftertaste.
A seemingly simple love story is the centerpiece
of the classic 1956 Frank Loesser musical, “The Most Happy Fella.” Based on
Sidney Howard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1920s play, “They Knew What They
Wanted,” the story focuses on a
lonely San Francisco waitress who agrees to be a sort of mail-order bride for
an expansive Italian immigrant vintner in the Napa Valley. When she realizes
that he’s far from the young hunk in the picture he sent, she has a
mini-meltdown that has chilling repercussions.
It’s a highly regarded but peculiar musical composite, mostly operatic,
full of arias and choral pieces, with a couple of genuine Broadway tunes, like
“Standin’ on the Corner” and “Big D,” thrown in. At Moonlight Stage
Productions, the piece feels musty but still touching, and the voices are
terrific, though the staging feels a tad cramped. All the performances are
outstanding, from Richard Kinsey and Sandy Campbell as the leads, to the
wistful Randall Dodge and the adorable, amusing secondary couple, Kristen
Mengelkoch and Eric Vest.
Now, in an otherworldly vein, there’s “Restless
Spirits” by Allan Havis, a world premiere at the San Diego Repertory Theatre.
Based on 200 interviews on both sides of the border, the complex, sometimes
convoluted mystery concerns a ghost-scholar, wonderfully portrayed by Karole
Foreman, whose passions and nightmares take her on a journey that crosses the
life-death and the cultural divide. There are too many interwoven stories, but
the acting and production values are outstanding, with mounting enigmas and
genuinely spooky rituals, visions and visitations. If you believe in the
supernatural, you’ll definitely be intrigued.
All these women are on the brink – of happiness,
disaster or deliverance.
©2006 Patté Productions
Inc.