"CURTAIN
CALLS" #195
By Pat Launer
06/01/07
Resilience
means revenge and regret… and much more;
So watch out, Baby¸ the Woolf ‘s at the
door.
FEAR
AND LOATHING IN
THE SHOW: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the 1962
masterwork of three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward
A
SIDESTORY: Forty-five years later, the play is still
brilliant, and still has the power to shock. Surprisingly,
THE
STORY: It’s all about one of the most ferocious couples
ever to appear onstage or screen -- George and Martha (symbolically named for
the ‘parents’ of our country). They’re intelligent, inebriated, brutal … and
brutally funny. When we meet them, they’ve just returned from yet another
faculty party at the house of her father, the president of the university where
George is still slogging along as a disillusioned associate professor, after
many years in the History department. Discontented Martha goes after him with a
vengeance, calling him a simp, a disappointment, a failure. George plays a more
subtle game, but in his quiet way, he matches her barb for barb, wit for wit,
insult for insult, and scores the final point.
When the new young Biology professor and his mousy
wife enter, all hell breaks loose. They start playing vicious parlor games like
Humiliate the Host, Hump the Hostess and Get the
Guest. As the alcohol continues to flow (Honey’s upchucking notwithstanding),
secrets, lies and buried truths are revealed, and both marriages are left in a
shambles; we watch them disintegrate before our eyes. Yet, at bottom, Virginia Woolf is a love story, albeit a
warped one, a twisted partnership of fantasy and gamesmanship. The play is also
very funny, and this production relishes and underscores the humor. But when
the action turns dark and acrid, we’re ready to take that journey, too – though
we definitely need the release of two intermissions. It’s a rutted, potholed
ride; you may feel a little shaky when it’s over, but exhilarated nonetheless.
THE
PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: This is the first of the Globe’s
new series, “Classics Up Close,” and it’s a wonderful
beginning. The intimate, arena stage of the Cassius Carter literally brings you
into the action. Some audience members
were so close they could pour themselves a drink. Once you’ve been admitted to
this cramped living room, overstuffed with furniture, ideas and deceptions,
you’re hooked, mesmerized; there’s no going back. There were a few snafus on
opening night: line drops and repeated indications of the wrong direction for
the offstage rooms. But in this play, character is all. It’s tough to find four
actors to rise to the complex, thorny, intricate demands. Director Richard
Seer, who’s masterful at plumbing the depths of character, has gotten it
three-quarters right. This is by far the strongest Nick and Honey I’ve seen.
And this George is spectacular. The center caves just a bit with Martha.
Though she’s proven her acumen and competence at
the Globe on numerous occasions (more than 10 productions, including,
ironically, playing Virginia Woolf in Vita
and Virginia in 2001), Monique Fowler doesn’t have the physical presence
the character demands; she makes fun of Honey’s “slim hips,” but she’s easily
as svelte as the younger woman. She doesn’t have the coarse earthiness or
sensuality of Martha, who calls herself the “Earth Mother,” and at times, she
seems to be rushing her lines. She’s best with the casually tossed-off caustic
and acidic remarks, and she makes a compelling descent in the third act.
The other three actors are superb throughout.
James Sutorius is a marvel as George. He was here last summer in Lincolnesque at the Globe, where he
played two fascinating roles. Here, he shows all the subtlety of his craft,
beginning the evening far less acerbic than Bill Irwin, and less broken than
Richard Burton in the acclaimed 1966 film (Liz Taylor’s best performance ever,
IMHO). Sutorius displays a range of colors, a nuanced array of love, despair,
anger, frustration, regret, shame, degradation. He rises splendidly to the
low-key humor and the gut-wrenching anguish; he calms Martha’s raging storm,
and at the end, he reveals a glimmer of hope for the couple’s repair and
redemption.
The younger duo is played by two impressive alumni
of the Old Globe/USD MFA program. Both have performed on and Off Broadway, and they bring delicious energy to their roles.
Scott Ferrara is exceptional; from his first entrance, you get a glimpse of the
kind of good-looking, arrogant, self-assured monster he is, and you watch him
being elevated and humiliated over the course of the evening. It’s thrilling to
watch his reactions to the other characters; myriad emotions play across his
handsome face. In the thankless role of Honey (the whining of which turned me
off to Sandy Dennis for years; why she won an Oscar I’ll never know), Nisi
Sturgis is magical, a wide-eyed, ever-smiling innocent, a wild interpretive
dancer, and a naïf who can turn angry on a dime, belying her seemingly mindless
purity. Lovely performance. The set (
THE
LOCATION: The Old Globe’s Cassius Carter Centre Stage,
through June 24
MORE UP CLOSE:
The next installment of the “Classics Up Close”
series will be Tennessee Williams’ The
Glass Menagerie next spring.
REMEMBRANCE
OF THINGS PAST
Hurry
up. You don’t have much time. This is a very short run, only through this
weekend. But you don’t want to miss the latest installments of
Marianne
McDonald’s latest creation, The Last Class, is a patently, admittedly, deeply personal,
autobiographical work. Set as the final lecture in a course of “Reading the Ancient Greeks,” it’s presented by
a scholarly classics professor with a larger-than-life, mythical story to tell
– her own. It begins with some didactic background, about the Greeks, the
tragedies, the playwrights and their “inconvenient truths.” (Presumably, the
students would have gotten all this info early in the semester, but consider it an end-of-term review). The teacher speaks of
the role of music in her life (“as important to me as my heartbeat”), as
important as language… and love. She tells of the tripartite Greek conception
of love (Eros, Philia, Agape), chalkboard and all. And
then, the real teaching begins. About the life journey, about how this
particular prof began her pedagogy partly as “an act of contrition for where
I’ve failed my family.” In between the graduation-day
exhortations (Believe in yourself. Look around. Hold someone else’s
hand. Admire the flowers), we hear the breathless, reckless story of a wild
life, attacked with ferocity, freedom and abandon, joy and possibility, a life,
as she recommends to her listeners, “lived fully and well.” A life filled with
adventure, travel, risk-taking, many loves and many children, triumph and
accomplishment tempered by despair, regret and remorse.
As directed by McDonald,
FYI: The ‘last class’ part is not autobiographical. As McDonald puts it, “I’ll teach till I
drop.” The impetus for writing this play was to “finally be honest … and not
have the usual social mask.” “And remember,” she adds,
“I’m Catholic… confession is a way of life.” Rock (and teach) on, Marianne!
This play is followed by the deeply intense new
work, A
Hundred Birds, by Ira Bateman-Gold, a nom de plume
for the director,
Each
of these pathetic losers, each showing early promise academically or
personally, was cut short at age 12, emotionally crippled by “cornholing,”
sexual abuse by the older man they are now holding captive. As each of their stories
unfolds, we’re struck not only by how damaged they are, how haunted and
destroyed -- intellectually, sexually, professionally and emotionally -- but also by how
seductive the predatory behavior was -- and remains. They want to kill the man
for doing what he did. But they keep dancing around the act, recoiling from the
finality of it, because the man was, in fact, the only adult who paid attention
to them, listened to them, seemed to love them. It’s painful to hear the
details and even worse to see the results of this monstrous act. But these
three are determined to get their pound of flesh, in the hope that it will turn
their lives around. It doesn’t seem likely. But we get caught up in the pain of
these men, and their ravenous need for closure and healing.
As director, Morris has cast outstandingly well,
and elicited superb performances from the trio of actors (as the
bound-and-gagged victimizer, Bud Coleman never says a word). Robert Borzych makes a welcome return
to local stages – as attractive and charismatic as before, but more mature,
centered and emotionally raw. Greg
Whitman is wonderful as the jittery Mike, the least intelligent, educated
and accomplished of the three, the one who blames himself most and is the last
to let go of his hurtful, harmful fantasy. Spurring them on, the strongest of
these sad stooges, the one who cringed and cried at the killing of 100 innocent
birds, the one who incites this catastrophic catharsis,
is the riveting Thomas Hall, whose
piercing intensity and dramatic credibility are spellbinding. This play will
haunt you. It’s Morris’ efforts to exorcise his own demons, only recently
recognized and acknowledged. The piece provides a peek into a world and an
experience you’d rather not know; but hiding doesn’t make it go away. And
understanding the survivor mentality is what this impressive Festival is all
about.
NOTE: This is not Morris’
first playwriting effort. He’s written about 15 plays; nine have been produced –
in Chicago, San Francisco and York, PA – primarily during the 1970s-‘80s. When
the Human Rights Festival submissions failed to include any plays about child
abuse, Morris says “I decided to give it a go and see what would happen.” What
happened is very good indeed.
THE LOCATION:
MORE
FROM THE FESTIVAL: On June 10, 6th @ Penn will host several
short literary events relating to human rights and the human spirit at The Hillcrest Association Book and Literacy
Fair. Presenters will include Marianne
McDonald (at 11am, reading from her plays, poetry and The Last Class); Gayle
Brandeis, reading from her delightful, San Diego-set, prize-winning novel, The Book of Dead Birds (11:55am); and
poet Catherine E. Martin, recently
transplanted from New York, via Seattle, reading her latest work (12:10pm).
THE
SHOW: Baby,
a 1983 musical by Richard Maltby, Jr. (lyrics) and David Shire (music); book by
Sybille Pearson. Nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical and
Best Score (Cats, God help us, snagged just about all the musical
awards that year). The pair also collaborated on the musical, Big, Maltby worked on Miss Saigon and Shire is an Oscar-winner for his film scores. This
version of the show (revised/updated in 2004) is directed (for the fourth time
in her career) by SDSU’s Paula Kalustian.
THE
STORY: Maltby and Shire are best known for their musical
revues (Starting Here, Starting Now; Closer than Ever); though this show has a book, it
feels very much like a revue. It follows three couples as they cope with having
the titular child, but the characters and stories rarely intertwine. In the
baby-making department, the college juniors are taken by surprise – and she’s
an independent proto-feminist who doesn’t want to get married. The young
marrieds have been trying to get pregnant for two years, and they keep trying
throughout the play. The 40-somethings experience the greatest shock, having
sent all their grown children off to college. Each couple is forced to examine
their relationship and their individual lives. Nothing really
deep or thought-provoking here. Just a few moments of
self-doubt and on to the next bubbly number.
THE
PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: Kalustian has assembled an
excellent cast, and they really make the show sing. Each is a musical
powerhouse and a thoroughly convincing actor. The connections between the mates
are totally credible, and other characters are nicely filled in by Lindsey
Gearhart and Paul Morgavo. As high-spirited young Lizzie and Danny, Ashley
Linton and Jason Maddy are adorable and irresistible. She’s full of spunk and
self-determination; he’s high-spirited and talented, earnestly willing to take
on the responsibilities of adulthood. Both are vocally strong, and their voices
soar (his into the falsetto stratosphere). As the happily married sports-nuts
Nick and Pam, Nick Spear and Rebecca Spear provide most of the comic relief;
though they don’t get the excitement and satisfaction of pregnancy, the
machinations they’re willing to go through to achieve procreative nirvana are
uproarious. Their comfortable, real-life marital familiarity pays off big-time
here (as it did in NCRT’s No Way to Treat
a Lady); they play off each other wonderfully, and their comic timing is
impeccable – Rebecca the wide-eyed ingénue to Nick’s bone-dry sarcastic wit.
Their voices are equally compatible. Sheer delight.
The more somber side of things is carried by talented Susan Jordan and Steve
Gunderson. They have so many doubts and fears about what they’re undertaking
(at this late age) and what it will do to their marriage (or what being alone
together, empty-nested, will do if they don’t
take this unexpected journey). They make the roles and challenges so real,
though their scenes often bring down the otherwise ebullient energy of the
piece. Serious considerations really don’t feature too prominently here. This
is frothy summer fun.
THE
LOCATION: North Coast Repertory Theatre, through June 24
NEWS
AND VIEWS…
… Join the conversation… Put your comments online
following my reviews at kpbs.org.
… Simon Season….
…One cool delay… New Village Arts has had to push back the opening of its new
theater space – so it can install air conditioning! That’s good news… because
it reflects the success of the matching grant donation of $50,000 from
Jack and Valerie Cumming (the largest single donation in NVA's six year
history), an amount that was matched in record time -- under one
month. So, the grand opening of the new space, in the heart of downtown
… Local Playwrights: Matt Thompson is premiering his latest creations: two one-acts,
each presented one night only: The Audition on June 3 and Apemantus,
on June 10. 7pm at the Broadway Theatre in
… Nearly 1001 Nights…. In 1999, North Coast
Repertory Theatre presented The 1000th Night, starring the
wildly talented Ron Campbell, ace
mimic, mime, pratfaller and puppeteer.
Ron used to appear regularly on
.. Sing for
the Cure… That’s the name of a concert subtitled “A Proclamation of Hope,” co-presented
by the
… and this weekend, the San Diego Women’s Chorus celebrates its
20th anniversary with a concert called “’Cause They Were Here: 20
Years of Harmony.” The event, which begins with a live and silent auction,
features music written and made famous by pioneering women such as
DANCE AROUND TOWN…
… As part of the 8th annual San Diego Jewish Music Festival,
American-Israeli troupe Keshet Chaim
(“Rainbow of Life”) brings to San Diego, for one night only, contemporary dance
and music inspired by Jewish culture and folk traditions. The group’s
repertoire spans Jewish history from the time of Solomon to the present, with a
mosaic of music, dance and color. Look for stories from
…Crossing the Border .. and breaking down barriers… The Blurred
Borders Dance Festival, co-presented by Sushi Performance and Visual Art
and the Patricia Rincon Dance Collective, is an annual, cross-cultural dance
event that fosters exchange among diverse artists. This year, the focus is on
artists from
'NOT TO BE MISSED!'
(Pat’s Picks)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – intense, brutal, funny, acerbic,
painful – and a masterpiece. A ¾ perfect production directed by
The Old Globe’s Cassius
Carter Centre Stage, through June 24
100
Birds and The Last Class – a provocative double bill that’s part
of 6th @ Penn’s Resilience of the Human Spirit: Human Rights Festival 2007. One
short, powerful play focuses on revenge (for childhood sexual abuse), the other
on regret (for recklessness, paths taken/not taken). Potent
work all around.
6th @ Penn
Theatre, through June 18
Baby – a trifle of a musical, with the conception of
conceiving; the excellent singing and acting elevate the effort considerably
North Coast Repertory Theatre,
Desire Under the Elms – very well crafted and executed; not quite as deep
and dark as one might hope, but as of opening night, showing every promise of
getting there soon
Cygnet Theatre, through June 3
ion theatre at the 6th Ave. Bistro downtown;
(For full text of all of Pat’s past reviews,
going back to 1990, use the Search engine at www.patteproductions.com)
June is busting out all over… and exploding in a
theater near you!
© 2007 PATTÉ PRODUCTIONS, INC.