Theater Reviews: Cave Quest, Lobby Hero, Broads!, Wirehead

Also, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Forgiveness, Oedipus El Rey and more

Comments (0) By L.A. Weekly Theater Critics Saturday, Mar 6 2010

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KHARMFUL CHARMS OF DANIIL KHARMS Here's a fascinating oddity: A series of short works by a now-almost-forgotten Russian author. Daniil Kharms was a brilliant, early Soviet–era writer, who, like most brilliant artists, happened to be decades ahead of his time. He may also have been a madman, or driven mad — after all, he died in a lunatic asylum during Stalin's reign, starving to death during the siege of Leningrad. Kharms, a founder of the Russian OBERIU Absurdist movement, wrote about seemingly inconsequential incidents that are peppered with unbearable cruelty — or which piquantly showcase the utterly random pointlessness of existence. A pompous historian attempts to give a history lecture but is repeatedly interrupted by a colleague who begins bashing his head with crocker plates. Writers Pushkin and Gogol commence a literary argument but wind up brawling and cursing like beasts. Later, a lecherous couple indulges in illegal precoital love talk, leading directly to their arrest by thugs from the state militia. A short time later, the leading thug, now alone, coos to herself using the same love talk for which the couple has been arrested. Director Olya Petrakova's cheerfully ironic production is marred by pacing problems — some skits plod, and the repetitious nature of some of the items inevitably causes our attention to wane about halfway through the series. Brown and her cast aim for the tone of an old Monty Python episode, and, in particular, of the bizarre Terry Gilliam cartoons, in which characters rip off each other's limbs or have sex or cheat on their spouses, and then act as if nothing has happened. Yet, the ultimate lack of context frequently leaves us frustrated — which is, of course, more than half of the intention. The end result is a fascinating tour de force of unusual spectacle and oddly mean-spirited comedy. The cast's performances are mostly amiable, if a little flat in tone and one-dimensional characterization, coming up short on the uniquely Eastern Bloc mix of humor, rage and confusion seemingly required by Kharms' deceptively simple text. ArtWorks Theatre, 6567 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; through March 20. (800) 838-3006, brownpapertickets.com. An ARTEL production (Paul Birchall)

LOBBY HERO Kenneth Lonergan is known for writing flawed characters that gently chew on an audience's heart, but in Pacific Stages' inaugural season opener, he dangles them in front of you for so long you eventually stop caring. That's a shame, because director Robert Bailey's well-cast ensemble is terrific. A young, sweet, directionless security guard named Jeff (Edward Tournier) stumbles into the limelight of a murder investigation. His supervisor, William (Kareem Ferguson), has landed there as well, since it's his brother who has been accused of the crime. Further complicating the drama are a hair-trigger rookie cop and her alpha dog partner (Dana Lynn Bennett and Nick Mennell). Lonergan's critically acclaimed 2000 film, You Can Count on Me, seems to have been the template for Lobby Hero, down to the thickets of dialogue and Jeff's similarities to the film's Terry Prescott. (Did Bailey subconsciously cast a Mark Ruffalo look-alike?) Whereas the film catches every nuance of Lonergan's intricately wrought characters and conversations, the stage occasionally swallows them. The spark of possibility is there, though: Mennell closes Act 1 with such a fierce roar of fire, the entire theater is set alight. He's so fine, his every slick entrance is greedily awaited, but neither he nor the rest of the cast can stoke that kind of excitement through to the end of Act 2. Smartly, Executive Director/Founder Jeryll W. Adler has three of the four actors onboard as Pacific Stages Artists Company Members. This bodes well for the acting standard of future shows at this El Segundo theater. Pacific Stages, 2041 Rosecrans Ave., El Segundo; Thurs.-Sat, 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m.; through March 21. (310) 868-2631. (Rebecca Haithcoat)

PHOTO BY KURT BOETCHER

Forgiveness

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LOVE BITES, VOLUME IX The Elephant Theatre Company's annual short-play festival, including "Reality Romcom: Day 98 With My Attained Pixie Dreamgirl" by Kerry Carney; "This Little Piggy" by Marek Glinski; "Empowerment" by Dominic Rains; "Surprise" by Mark Harvey Levine; "Most Likely" by Gloria Calderon Kellett; "Tag" by Tony Foster; "Rox-N, Miss Thang" by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich; "Hard" by Steven Korbar. Elephant Theatre Lab, 1078 Lilian Way, L.A.; Sun., 7 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; through March 14; plays411.com/lovebites. (323) 960-4410. See Theater feature.

GO OEDIPUS EL REY Brilliantly staged by director Jon Lawrence Rivera, Luis Alfaro's transmogrification of the story of Oedipus to prison and the barrio makes for powerful stuff. A chorus of inmates unveils the saga: A gang leader, Laius (Leandro Cano), informed that his infant son will one day destroy him, orders his henchman, Tiresias (Winston J. Rocha), to take the child away and kill him. Fast-forward a generation: Both Tiresias and his "son" Oedipus (Justin Huen) are incarcerated together in North Kern State Prison. (Intellectuals of sorts, they frequent the prison library.) On his return to the barrio after his release, Oedipus meets up with and slays Laius, before falling for Jocasta (Marlene Forte) — the two flagrantly light each other's fire, to the community's displeasure. As per Sophocles' original, the tale unwinds to a tragic and enlightening denouement, with all the classic themes evident: the folly of pride, the immutability of fate, the reluctance of human beings to confront obvious truth. Alfaro spins much of this in a colloquial lexicon that makes it all the more forceful. Some of his passages — Tiresias' musings on what a father really is, after Oedipus has beaten and reviled him (beautifully played by Rocha) — are memorable and moving. Huen is charismatic, the ensemble is strong and the production design — lighting (Jeremy Pivnick), scenic design (John H. Binkley) and sound and music composition (Robert Oriol) — is impeccable. Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through March 28. (626) 683-6883. (Deborah Klugman)