THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS AIRDATE: November 03, 2006
Sometimes in life, you get a second chance, maybe
even a third. But do you learn anything from the opportunity? In the case of
two popular dramas, the answer seems to be no.
In Yazmina Reza’s “Life X 3,” two couples get to
play out a disastrous evening three different ways. No one seems the better or
the wiser for it.
In “Tuesdays with Morrie,” adapted from the
best-selling, autobiographical/inspirational book by Mitch Albom, Mitch gets
the opportunity to re-connect with a beloved college professor, who’s rapidly
fading from ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Mitch had promised to stay in touch
with Morrie after graduation, but 16 years have gone by without contact. Now
he’s a successful, self-absorbed, work-obsessed, unhappy, unlikable automaton.
He has a lot to learn from the life-affirming, aphorism-spouting Morrie. But in
neither the book nor the play does Mitch seem to take that much-needed journey.
Co-written by Albom and playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, “Tuesdays” is making the
rounds this year. It’s one of the ten most produced plays nationwide.
The tear-jerking North Coast Repertory Theatre
production is absolutely worth seeing, primarily because Robert Grossman gives
a stunning performance as Morrie. Even as he visibly shrivels from the
debilitating disease, he maintains a palpable joy in life and living. Mike
Sears does a commendable job in the far less congenial role of Mitch. The two
play off each other perfectly under David Ellenstein’s finely nuanced
direction. And hey, at least one of the two characters is sympathetic and
likable.
In “Life X 3,” we don’t care for any of the four
fiends onstage. We can all relate to the horror of an important work-superior
and his wife showing up for dinner on the wrong night. But it’s a lot harder to
latch onto the gratuitous cruelty of this brittle and brutal quartet. In
playing the same scene three times, spouses demean and debase their mates, a
mother rejects her child, the hopes and pursuits of a budding scientist are
destroyed, while physics and metaphysics, String Theory and Dark Matter are
bandied about to little apparent avail.
It’s not a satisfying theatrical experience,
though the performances at Lamb’s Players Theatre are very well executed, under
Deborah Gilmour Smyth’s direction. But there’s definitely a surfeit of yelling,
outburst and meltdown, and a dearth of humor. The play, after all, is billed as
a dark comedy. The scenic design, however, is beautiful, with flickering stars,
a spinning earth and a rotating stage. It’s all about macrocosm and microcosm.
You may not come away from these productions armed
with profound truths and insights, but you may well be strongly attracted -- or
repelled -- by the characters they introduce.
©2006 Patté Productions
Inc.