Orson's Shadow

Having thoroughly enjoyed the 2005 production of Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow, I was looking forward with excitement to the current production, directed by Pendleton, at the Theater for The New City. I am happy to report that this version is a worthy successor to the original. 

Austin Pendleton and Cast
Photo: Jonathan Slaff

Orson's Shadow takes place in 1960, with Orson Welles desperately seeking financing for a movie, critic Kenneth Tynan looking for a way to work at the new National Theatre, and Laurence Olivier stuck between the old (his wife Vivien Leigh; his traditional approach to acting) and the new (his girlfriend Joan Plowright; an edgier approach to acting). They all come together when Tynan talks Olivier into accepting Welles as the director of his production of Ionesco's Rhinocerous. Their interactions are volatile and button-pressing as they try to conjure up a workable version of a play that none of them particularly likes or respects.

Pendleton expertly uses this situation to consider love, acting, peaking young, madness, and the business of theatre and movies. His cast is not always physically apt, but all are quite good: Brad Fryman as a aggressively boisterous Orson Welles, Patrick Hamilton as a chain-smoking Kenneth Tynan, Ryan Tramont as a breath-takingly self-centered Laurence Olivier, Natalie Menna as a painfully self-aware Vivien Leigh, Kim Taff as a quietly perceptive Joan Plowright, and Luke Hofmaier as Welles's bemused assistant.

With a show about real people, there's always the distracting issue of, do the actors look like the person they're playing? It's ultimately irrelevant: eg, Ryan Tramont's lack of resemblance to Olivier doesn't hurt his excellent performance, once you get used to it. And you can't expect anyone to actually look like Vivien Leigh--that's one heck of a high bar--but Natalie Menna succeeds in her depiction nevertheless.

A more serious problem--common to historical novels and biopics as well--is the vibe of parasitism when artists use the fame and personalities of real people to provide excitement and drama in their own work. These characters say lines written for them whether or not the real people ever said them or would have said them.

I do, however, have to admit that Pendleton uses these particular people well. The show is moving, fascinating, funny, and heart-breaking. It's a bit baggy--with not much editing, its two hours with an intermission could easily be 90 minutes without--but overall it is a strong production of a strong show. 

Tickets for Orson's Shadow are $25 ($15 for seniors and students). It's amazing, and exciting, that such quality can be accessed at such reasonable prices. (Orson's Shadow runs through the end of the month. For more info, click here.)

Wendy Caster

A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur

A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur is not one of Tennessee Williams's masterpieces, but it still deserves a better production than the one currently being presented by La Femme Theatre Productions. Director Austin Pendleton seems to think that Creve Coeur is a farce. It is not; it's a slightly hopeful tragedy with some humor. Pendleton does manage to get some laughs, but at the cost of the play's soul.

The situation is familiar: a high-strung Southern woman, Dotty (think Blanche from Streetcar), seeks love with a handsome, charming, well-off man whom she has "dated." Her older roommate, Bodey, wants to match Dotty with her twin brother, who is neither handsome nor charming (think Mitch from Streetcar). Dotty's workmate, Helena, wants Dotty to be her roommate, though she is more focused on Dotty's financial contribution than on Dotty herself.

Jean Lichty
Photo: Joan Marcus

Jean Lichty does a decent job as Dotty, particularly in the later scenes where she is allowed by the writing and the direction to be less frenetic. Kristine Nielsen's two-dimensional Bodey ignores the character's savvy and backbone, much to the detriment of the play. Annette O'Toole plays Helena as though she is a sitcom bad guy. I have to ironically tip my hat to Pendleton: getting bad performances out of Nielsen and O'Toole can't have been easy.

I saw a good production of Creve Coeur in 1990 at the San Diego Rep. While it could not cover the play's faults, it did express its heart and soul. I can't help wonder what the La Femme production might have expressed with a different director.

Wendy Caster
(press ticket; third row)
Show-Score: 65

A Day By the Sea

Perhaps it's time for me to make a template for my reviews of Mint Theater Company productions:

Thanks once again to the invaluable Mint for reintroducing the world to yet another fabulous play, __________, which was beautifully directed by __________, with excellent acting by the whole cast (particularly _________, _________, and _________), and gorgeous scenery (by _________) and costumes (by ___________). 

But, no, each of the Mint's gems deserves its own accolades, and anyway, it's a pleasure to write a glowing review. (I know that some reviewers have more fun writing pans; I don't.)

Julian Elfer, Katie Firth
Photo: Richard Termine

N.C. Hunter's rich and moving play, A Day by the Sea, is a Chekovian exploration of people dealing with stormy emotional crossroads on a mild summer day. It starts slowly and quietly, and it took a while for my 21st century brain to gear down to mid-20th century pacing.

Hamlet

Photo: Carol Rosegg

Hamlet's a real pain in the ass, if you ask me. I don't mean the titular protagonist, though he's a pill, too. I'm talking about the show itself, which is so well-known, so riddled with famous phrases, so regularly referenced, and so often staged that, in CSC artistic director Brian Kulick's words, Hamlet "is really not a play anymore--it's kind of a sporting event: You come, you watch, you know it, and you wait--you see, well, how does Hamlet do 'to be or not to be?' How does this Hamlet do 'O this too too solid flesh?'" Hamlet might be a challenge to seasoned performers and directors in this respect, but I'm neither, so I don't feel like a total moron admitting that the very thought of tackling a show everyone knows so well--one whose lead character comes off as maddeningly mopey and indecisive; whose plot doesn't really progress all that much; and whose characters mostly stand around brooding for three-plus hours, uttering lines so familiar that they've become cliches, only to end up in an orgiastic hamster-pile of death in the last scene--seems to me like a nightmare.

The production of Hamlet at CSC, however, shook me out of my own trepidation. It is sleek and engaging, well-staged, and solidly performed. I am not convinced that the production, which takes a highly stylized, contemporary approach, will appeal to everyone (and indeed, a handful of people left during intermission at the matinee I saw). But at least as I see it, for all the glum indecision, confusing character motivations, and lack of taut pacing that this particular Shakespeare play packs into its lengthy five acts, the CSC production pays off in the end. There are very few sudden moves and no stage gore (though the deliciously scenery-chewing Glenn Fitzgerald, as a slow-burning Laertes, finally pops off at the end by racing around the house while bellowing madly, which is awesome). Yet the show never drags, thanks to the intensity of the company and the shrewd, careful direction of Austin Pendleton.

Between Riverside and Crazy

In the truly amazing Between Riverside and Crazy, the wonderful Stephen Adly Guirgis signals us quickly that all is not what it seems. Pops, the old man in the wheelchair, is neither ill nor injured. The people who call him "Dad" are not his children. And the one-line description that is being widely used to descibe the play ("Between Riverside and Crazy centers on a retired policeman threatened with eviction and his extended family and friends") barely scratches the surface of this funny, fascinating, insightful, and surprising examination of truth, love, family, racism, loyalty, and the law. (I am not going further into the plot because I don't want to spoil anything.)

Stephen McKinley Henderson, Liza Colon-Zayas
Photo: Kevin Thomas Garcia

Stephen Adly Guirgis is a superb playwright. He should be mentioned with Albee and Stoppard among the living greats. Why?

• A great playwright presents three-dimensional people and lets us see what makes them tick--and makes us care about what makes them tick. Check.
  
• A great playwright uses language that is simultaneously lyrical yet real. Check.