Theater Reviews: Candida, Poor, Poor Lear, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Also, Surviving Sex, The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh, and more

Comments (0) By L.A. Weekly Theater Critics Wednesday, Feb 11 2009

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GO THE NEO-SACRED REVIVAL: THREE SHORT PLAYS FOR THE MODERN SOUL Three smartly staged one-acts from the current generation of Padua Playwrights illustrate both the risks and the rewards of the long-running writing workshop’s dedication to what they call a “poet’s theater.” The evening’s highlight is Sharon Yablons’ “Acts of Love,” a scathingly funny look at physical desire, emotional intimacy and the sadomasochistic trap awaiting those couples who don’t understand the difference. Richard Azurdia and a nicely nuanced Mickey Swenson are the witless cads unable to muster desire for the women they love and respect; Lake Sharp, Sandra McCurdy and Kim Debus are the significant others grappling with their partners’ mystifying erotic indifference. Gray Palmer directs. Less successful are Guy Zimmerman’s “Hammers” and Heidi Darchuk’s “Tiny Trumpets.” Zimmerman (who also directs) uses a callow screenwriter’s (Gill Gayle) relationship to his brain-damaged brother (Adrian Alex Cruz) to implicate storytelling, history and the past in the fate of the tortured siblings. Darchuk’s tale follows estranged parents (Lisa Denke and Palmer) reuniting for the funeral of their daughter (Caroline Duncan). Though director Gill Gayle ably realizes Darchuk’s dark humor and off-kilter lyricism, the compelling human drama never feels connected to the piece’s more oblique passages. It’s a flaw shared by Zimmerman — trying to score big intellectual points far too unwieldy and abstract for such intimate work. Art Share Los Angeles, 801 E. Fourth Place, L.A.; Fri.-Sun., 8 p.m.; thru Feb. 15. (213) 625-1766. A Padua Playwrights production. (Bill Raden)

GO POOR, POOR LEAR In her one woman Shakespeare show-within-a-show, Nina Sallinen nearly triples her age to play a 90-year-old Finnish diva, returning to the stage after decades away to perform King Lear with just a hat, a doll and a flower to represent the king’s three ill-fated daughters. The aged actress is seemingly in constant motion, thrilled to be back in the spotlight, but her overactive mouth, her limbs and, on occasion, her mind are betraying her. When her stubborn legs and distracted brain cause her to freeze up onstage, it’s as electric as her shock of white hair that shakes loose in wild directions. A solo performance of King Lear is a vanity piece, however cleverly slummed up with nice touches like the hair dryer Sallinen clicks on so that she can deliver the king’s “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!” speech into its tinny gale. But what’s really at stake for the ancient drama queen is that her estranged daughters — and the evening’s guests of honor — have instead gone to the movies, spinning her into a manic depression where she acknowledges the parallels between her characters and herself. A shattered second act soliloquy overexplains what we’ve enjoyed intuiting, but when Sallinen’s actress drops her facade and asks the audience to see her for who she really is, the moment is so kinetic we forget we’re still looking at a fictional creation. The Complex, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; through March 1. (818) 430-4835. (Amy Nicholson)

Michael Lamont

Candida

The Making of a Mulatto

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SURVIVING SEX is a pretty good, facile sitcom by David Landsberg about the plight of romantic nebbish accountant Stan (Jeff Marlowe), trying to steer his battered life raft through the crosscurrents of his own docility and inertia, and the presumed desire of the women in his life for a real man who knows how to degrade them. That isn’t really the life they want, but it’s the romantic performance they want from their fellas. Nice guys finish last. Woody Allen has handled all this with more astuteness and aplomb, nonetheless Landsberg has crafted some witty, satirical riffs on the double standards set by women, which emerge from Stan’s mouth in hilarious, furious crescendos. Marlowe is an accomplished comic whose droll reactions to the mayhem surrounding him produce some intoxicating moments. This is the kind of guy who financially supports his girlfriend — foxy, aspiring actress Denise (Amy Handelman). Stan then has to endure watching her rehearse in his own living room a sizzling love scene with her stud scene partner (Steve Coombs). After Denise dumps him, Stan finds himself manacled to the kitchen table with a new date (Dana Green) trying out her dominatrix fantasies. There’s a pleasing performance by Mandy June Turpin as Larry’s wife, Jennifer, particularly when she must handle her hubby’s announcement that he’s in love with Stan. The farce trips over itself, under Susan Morgenstern’s otherwise fine direction, with strains of plausibility, such as Stan opening his front door with his trousers wrapped around his ankles, just so his his best buddy, Larry (Peter Story), can check to see how his date is going. When looking to have some sex toys delivered, Stan checks the phone book. Does anyone younger than 40 even use a phone book anymore? Falcon Theater, 4252 Riverside Dr., Burbank; Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 4 p.m.; through March 1. (818) 955-8101. (Steven Leigh Morris)