Theater Reviews: He Asked for It, Office Sonata, Hedda Gabler
Also, Safe, The Glass Menagerie, and more
HEDDA GABLER Several years ago, the Fabulous Monsters devised a highly entertaining take on Ibsen’s classic which they named Speed Hedda. This production has gone in an entirely opposite direction, in what could be called Valium Hedda. Danish actress Dina Rosenmeier possesses the stunning beauty that makes Hedda so desired by all men in this stark story of a woman frustrated by the gender restraints that keep her down. Rosenmeier takes too literally Hedda’s complaint that all she can do is “bore herself to death” by performing most of the play in a semitrance. She leads the cast, apparently with the complicity of co-directors Charles Otte and Rick Pagano, in an often inaudible, emotionally sterile outing. The most difficult to understand is the should-be sexy and exciting philosopher-writer Eilert Lovborg who captivates Hedda and her school pal Mrs. Elvsted (Gillian Brashear). As Lovborg, John Livingston seems to be trying to channel James Dean’s mumble-and-scrape style of acting. In an interesting twist, the directors update the second half from the 19th century to the present day with a laptop at center stage, but this choice would seem to obviate the central plot element of a handwritten manuscript that means life or death to Lovborg and Hedda. Though the intensity of the melodrama is weak, the story is told clearly and with admirably cruel humor. Costume designer Christina Wright clearly had fun updating the characters’ style between two centuries. Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., WLA; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru May 31. (310) 477-2055. A Freya Films production. (Tom Provenzano)
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From Door to Door
THE INJURED PARTY See Stage Feature. South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa; Tues.-Sun., 7:45 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 2 p.m.; thru May 11. (714) 708-5555 or www.scr.org.
GO NEVIS MOUNTAIN DEW The title of Steve Carter’s 1978 melodrama refers to a brand of rum from Nevis, the Caribbean island where the denizens of the play, set in 1954 Queens, New York, are from. “Ain’t nothing but truth serum,” is how one character labels the libation, and there’s plenty — sometimes too much — truth waiting to be told once the drinking starts. For Jared (Sammie Wayne IV), encased in an iron lung, there’s the truth that on this, his 50th birthday, he longs for release from his resentment and depression. There’s the truth about Jared’s wife, Billie (a miscast Nancy Renee), and how her husband’s once virile and now listless body has wreaked havoc on her sexuality. Then there’s the truth about Jared’s sister, Everelda (Veronica Thompson), and her pathological need to care for her stricken brother. With so much going on it is hard for director Nancy Cheryll Davis to find focus for her mostly capable cast, especially when Carter’s dialogue leans to the histrionic. Underneath it all, though, lies the bitter truth that it is more often we who make the choices that keep us from our own liberation. Stella Adler Theater, 6773 Hollywood Blvd., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru May 18. (213) 624-4796. A Towne Street Theater production. (Martín Hernández)
OFFICE SONATA The first thing you notice about Danny Cistone’s glossy NYC advertising-agency set, for Andy Chmelko’s workplace satire, is how the clocks showing London and Tokyo time have stopped, and how the minute hands are not aligned — even though the two cities’ time zones only differ by hours. Assuming this is deliberate, it sets a tone for the blazing dysfunction of this office, which is a cauldron of — and haven for — unfettered sadism. Petty employee errors are punished by the arrival of “The Birdman,” who plants himself by the offender’s desk, then follows the victim to the restroom, and even home, with an index finger permanently raised in the victim’s face. Evidently, punishment takes a higher priority than productivity. Other offenders are hooded, handcuffed and dragged away. There are some lovely touches, such as uber-hyper Marisa (Amanda Randall) ordering her assistant (Jackie Brechner) to “call my children and tell them I love them.” And one scene has the stuff of classic farce, where bored Martin (Stephen Eshenbaugh) logs on to a porn site which infects every computer in the building with a fountain of filth — with Martin’s name attached. The scene is enriched by live dancing girls melting through the office walls. The play flies on such recognizable aspects of every workplace, but it flounders on the presumption that sadism is the entire cause of the agonies being described, which is what makes the farce wear out its welcome, despite Scott Werve’s fine direction of the heroic ensemble. The relentless drive for cost-cutting and efficiency is what decimates morale and makes such places so inefficient and surreal. These unaddressed, mercenary motives would be the egg whites in this soufflé, here left out of the recipe, which is why the comedy doesn’t rise to its potential. Hayworth Studio Theater, 2511 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru May 31. (323) 960-5770 or www.plays411.com/officesonata. Range View productions. (Steven Leigh Morris)
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