Tuesday, November 3, 1998
Curtain calls
"Deathtrap"
Through Dec. 13
West Coast Ensemble Theater
Hollywood
Tickets: $20
(323) 525-0022
If ever more hypocrisy passed through the lips of a single man,
it would be when Sidney Bruhl uttered to his wife, "The closer you
stay to the truth, the better off you are."
But truth is the only thing lacking in Ira Levin’s fascinating
thriller "Deathtrap." The show features a dynamic cast, superb
direction by Claudia Jaffee and an amazingly brilliant script.
The audience senses the brewing potential of a juicy plot when
the play opens with Sidney (Loren Lester) telling his fragile wife
Myra (Leigh Kelly) of a promising young playwright with a talent
worth killing for. The veteran writer has penned many successful
stage thrillers but hasn’t seen a hit in 20 years. So when he
invites young Clifford (Christopher Prince) over to the couple’s
quaint Connecticut home, telling him to bring with him all traces
of his new play, the ground is lain for a suspenseful mystery with
a head-spinning maze of plot twists.
"Deathtrap" captures the audience’s attention through two and a
half hours (with an intermission) of intricate character and plot
development. The aim is to shock, and it doesn’t let down, from the
action-packed first act to the climactic end that no one would ever
expect.
But what really keeps them riveted is Levin’s clever, witty
dialogue. He sprinkles the chilling drama with an intelligent dose
of humor and even light-heartedly ventures into self-mockery.
As Sydney discusses his protege’s work, which coincidentally is
modeled after the play itself and is also entitled "Deathtrap," the
two quip about whether audiences will find the story believable.
Familiar chuckles from the peanut gallery suggest that the subtle
jabs work.
Well, they wouldn’t work without the cast’s dead-on delivery,
led by Lester as the unscrupulous wash-up. His ability to dispense
comedy and drama in subsequent breaths makes his devious character
strangely appealing. Prince plays Clifford with an annoying "himbo"
quality, but it seems appropriate in the wacky context of the
play.
The five-person ensemble works with a seamless chemistry, which
is especially impressive, considering the show is double-cast
(David Mark Peterson, Eleanor Joy Lind and Gary O’Brien star in the
other cast). Together, they present a strong effort, moving into a
pleasant rhythm after a choppy start (the troubles continue when
one of the stage doors falls off its hinges in a heated moment, but
the consummate professionals deal well).
Tina Witek shines as Helga Ten Dorp, a Dutch psychic who
stumbles upon the Bruhl house in a telepathic frenzy. Initially
overblown and hard to swallow, Witek finds a stride by the time she
slips into a hilarious monologue in the second act.
Perhaps the only weakness in this otherwise incredible
production is toward the end of the play, when the audience has
digested its last surprise. The final blow is almost too much to
handle, invoking nostalgia  or rather nausea  for the
equally roundabout film "Wild Things."
But the play about a play that’s about this play is certainly
not roundabout. It makes perfect sense.
Louise Chu
"Fofo: EchoGreco"
Through Nov. 22
MET Theatre
Hollywood
Tickets: $10-20
(323) 960-2065
Few shows can showcase a 12-foot-tall clown and be taken
seriously. But "Fofo: EchoGreco," the small-scale spectacle now
playing at Hollywood’s MET Theatre, both recreates the Greek
pageant of Dionysus, Theseus and Ariadne in full circus-color and
gives the debauchery a conscience.
And that’s where the clown comes in. The towering, hydrocephalic
creature that ambles onstage after Pan’s introduction is Dionysus
(the costumed Solomon Eversole), the Greek god of wine. His paper
mache head lurching forward like an infant’s, the beast’s
tire-sized hands grope the bewildered Theseus (Leif Tilden) as a
live, onstage band spins ’60s Brit Pop-esque tunes.
The effect is awe-inspiring, and, for a while, the audience is
as bewildered as the poor, thrashing Theseus. But soon, like the
circus-like musical "Pippin’," the company switches from visual
wonder to playful meaning, conveying an orgy of social messages,
from environmentalism to sexism.
Which is not to say that "Fofo," actually the name given a group
of actors, musicians, variety artists and visual artists, delivers
a self-conscious, art-house meaning with a capital "m." Like the
Dionysian bout of yore, the nearly plotless, circus-like production
is in search of fun and lighthearted revelry.
Much of this carousal comes from Pan, spiritedly played by Ramon
McLane. The satyr acts as a drunk emcee, prancing from stage to the
band, in which he plays trumpet and harmonica.
His scattered leadership is tempered by The Professor (Paul
Raczowski), a nasal, corduroy-clad academic who deftly frames the
presentation with three lectures, one concerning a slide
presentation (yes, there is a slide show) of the "Minotaur and the
Minobike." Raczowski even collects quizzes during the intermission,
with Classics-skimming questions like "Who was the greatest Greek
hero?" (the multiple-choice answers include the perennial paragon
of masculinity, Anthony Quinn).
The rest of the play (or spectacle, rather) plays out like a
frat party with fine wine, a trapeze artist and "inactive phrases
of activism." The visual stupefaction does not end with the clown;
the play concludes with the extraordinary acrobatics of Ariadne,
played by UCLA folklore and mythology graduate student Montana
Miller, a pint-sized, muscular wonder who flips and contorts in
Dionsyus’ giant "wedding rings."
Miller, a performer with Cirque du Soleil and Harvard graduate,
is, if nothing else, alone worth the cost of admission to the show.
She communicates not only precise technique, but also a great
interpretive ability that conveys Ariadne’s despondency as she
ascends to heaven. Which isn’t bad for a show about drinking and
debauchery.
Megan DickersonPhoto courtesy of West Coast Ensemble
Loren Lester, Gary O’Brien and Eleanor Joy Lind star in
"Deathtrap" by Ira Levin.
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