“Fully Committed” a Wicked Holiday Delight!

Holiday fare can often be hackneyed, vapid, or sickly sweet; luckily, New Rep’s production of Fully Committed is the perfect antidote.  Sitting in the audience, the relief of my fellow theatregoers was palpable, as we laughed, groaned, and gasped in delight at the wicked and wry script from Becky Mode and the astonishing performance(s) from Gabriel Kuttner. 

The show is a fast-paced send-up of the weird, wonderful, horrible, and quirky characters to be found in the world of high-class dining in New York City.  The story follows a day in the life of typically-nice Midwestern struggling actor (Sam), who is (mistakenly) solely responsible for the reservations department at a fancy eatery in Manhattan.  Kuttner, who gives us a likable and understandable put-upon Sam, also plays the dozens of horrid or bizarre customers trying to get a table, along with the slightly-sadistic chef and four or five of the other restaurant staff.  His ability to switch personalities in the blink of an eye – what accent work! – is breathtaking, and often blindingly funny.  His antics often reduced the audience to helpless laughter, but he never paused for the entire 75-minute show, mirroring the situation of poor Sam, who can’t even take a break for a quick lunch.

The director (Bridget Kathleen O’Leary) and sound designer (Bill Barclay) also deserve particular mention.  The timing of the sound cues was near-perfect, which can’t have been easy in a show that must include several hundred telephone rings and intercom buzzes.  All in all, this is New Rep at its best; excellent acting, design, and direction, coupled with an edge of dark humor.  I cannot recommend this show highly enough.  It unfortunately only plays until Dec. 30, so be sure to get your tickets soon!

~ Shauna Shames, New Rep Reviewer

“Holiday Memories” this Holiday Season

--Victoria Petrosino, New Rep Reviewer

New Rep’s “Holiday Memories” retells two of Truman Capote’s short stories “The Thanksgiving Visitor” and “A Christmas Memory.”  Both are semi-autobiographical accounts of Capote growing up in Alabama, focusing on the rituals of a family preparing for the holidays: dreaming of Thanksgiving turkeys, collecting pecans for fruitcakes, and finding the perfect tree.  Though some of the traditions are antiquated (such as a trip to the local bootlegger to buy whiskey), the language of the stories is poetic and immersive and the setting fully captures the spirit of the holidays.

Jon Savage’s scene design creates a warm, well-worn setting for the production.  Tools, empty picture frames, flannel shirts, and books are collected almost randomly on wooden shelves along the sides of the stage.  The result is a background that is at once familiar and isolating.  All of the objects give a contained, shut-away impression that suits the nature of the stories: they are familiar and present, but only memories.

Similar to New Rep’s season opener “The Kite Runner,” Russell Vandenbrouke’s stage version of the Capote stories uses an older narrator to re-live the events of his youth; however, “Holiday Memories” uses this structure more successfully.  Marc Carver as Truman Capote brings introspection and sincere reflection to the events of his childhood.  In the second act story “A Christmas Memory,” he looks back on Miss Sook’s (Adrianne Krstansky) fruitcake ritual and remembers how they saved all year and labored for days to send the cakes to relative strangers, such as the bus driver who waved at them or to passing missionaries.  He reflects: “Is it because my friend is shy with everyone except strangers that these strangers, and merest acquaintances, seem to us our truest friends? I think yes.” This rumination gives the narrator purpose in the story-telling experience.

Holiday traditions are deceptively unique.  New Rep’s “Holiday Memories” is an interesting glimpse into the traditions of another generation, but everyone can find something familiar and relatable in the cast and setting of the production.

Treasured Holiday Memories

by Frank Furnari, New Rep Reviewer 

Holiday Memories presents us with two, somewhat autobiographical glimpses at Truman Capote's childhood, offering an entertaining evening of holiday fare.  The evening is broken up into two acts, the first is "The Thanksgiving Visitor" where we see Buddy/Truman as a boy around 7, who doesn't fit in with the other children and his best friend is Sook, a relative in her 60s.  While Buddy does not have many friends his age, the town bully torments him frequently.  One Thanksgiving, Sook takes it upon herself to invite the bully over for Thanksgiving dinner and what transpires over dinner is not what you might expect.  The second half is "A Christmas Memory" where we again see Buddy and Sook, but now it is fruitcake weather, Sook's annual tradition of making fruitcakes for many people including the President.  The process of getting and paying for the ingredients as well as the interactions between the two are very touching.  

The stage version by Russell Vandenbrouke has both the young Buddy (Michael John Ciszewski) and older Truman (Marc Carver) on stage at the same time.  Truman serves both as the older Buddy as well as the narrator, however since the play centers around the young Buddy, the character of Truman doesn't add much to the story – one expects Truman to have a few scenes as an adult, but other than a brief moment we don't get that.  Aside from that, it is a well-written and engaging play.  Adrianne Krstansky is wonderful as Sook; she embodies the shy, childlike nature of Sook without making her into a caricature.  Michael John Ciszewski, a sophomore at BU, is great as Buddy imbuing the role with the sensitivity and a childlike -yet wise beyond his years quality and expression.   

The set designed by Jon Savage was an intricate work of art itself.  The house gives the sense of a family who doesn’t have much money, but is resourceful - taking items from a variety of places and repurposing them.  It was very cool to see the way things would just flip out from the wall to reveal a bed or a shelf of fruitcakes.  Behind the house was a scrim with an area for actors (which wasn't always used effectively).  Behind that was a screen where additional scenery was projected (schoolhouse, kitchen) which gave the production a storybook feel with the images used, adding memory/storybook feel.  

Holiday Memories is not your typical holiday fare, but that's a good thing for those who may not want to see Christmas Carol yet again.  It is a look back at holidays of years past, but not through rose-colored glasses.  While not sugar coating the memories, it is still very enjoyable and may even make you feel nostalgic about your own holiday memories.  

“Chesapeake”

New Rep’s newest black-box show Chesapeake is a rip-roaring combination of wit, passion, intellect, and irony.  Written with the flair of a playwright confounded by the public debate over funding the arts, and spoken with the strong (and sometimes trembling) voice of an enthusiastic performance artist, this unconventional (dark) comedy cycles between hurt and hilarity.

The performance artist Kerr (who has much in common with the cur of which she dreams) is reviled by her hometown Congressman and used as a scapegoat in his campaign for Senate.   She decides, in retaliation, to teach the Congressman a lesson through his beloved Chesapeake terrier. She believes she can do it in a way that changes hearts and minds, and that it will merely be a form of “real protest.” The play thus begs the question, how far would you and should you go in the name of art and activism?  While a Boston-area audience will probably not side with the conservative Southern Congressman, perhaps neither will they appreciate Kerr’s impulsive, violent actions.  Are we supposed to decry the performance artist’s performance of recklessness much as early-twentieth-century audience booed her idols, the “Futurists?” What is the responsibility of an artist for the damage her art may do?

What unfolds for Kerr and her fellow characters can only be described as an emotional journey, and perhaps a spiritual one too. The storyline of the second act is more of a rabbit-hole than a ladder, surprising us in its depth (and in our own ability to suspend disbelief). For all those looking for something out of the ordinary, something that will tickle your fancy and raise your eyebrow, come down the New Rep for this resounding one-woman show.  The effort and dedication the actress puts into every anecdote is remarkable. Kudos also to the behind-the-scenes engineers; as in every great play, the lighting and sound design greatly accentuate the dramatic tension.

~ Shauna Shames, New Rep Reviewer (with assistance from Gabriel Shames)

Race and Racism

Victoria Petrosino, New Rep Reviewer

David Mamet’s Race opens in the sparse, professional offices of a three-person law firm. Starbucks coffee cups share desk space with a Macbook and yellow legal pads, while light filters through a wall of beige Venetian blinds.  The action starts when Charles Strickland (Patrick Shea) enters, seeking the aid of lawyers Jack Lawson (Ken Cheeseman) and Henry Brown (Johhnie McQuarley).

Charles, a wealthy, older white man, has been accused of raping a young black woman in his hotel room. As Strickland indignantly protests his innocence, Lawson cynically observes that guilt or innocence doesn’t matter anyway. The jury will find Strickland guilty because he’s white and the woman is black: social conventions and the fear of appearing racist will influence the case more than facts. As the play goes on, these conventions are mocked, defied, and continue to polarize the characters into ever-shifting alliances against one another.

Ken Cheeseman is commanding and expressive as Jack Lawson. He moves with fevered energy and sweeping mannerisms, playing the great puppeteer who continually forces his colleagues to dig deeper and answer the question: “What does a guilty man look like?”  The actor invests brash, passionate disregard for political correctness into every cynical diatribe.  In the climactic finale between Lawson and his protégé Susan, Miranda Craigwell matches Cheeseman’s energy and brazen style, leaving the audience stricken at the abrupt power shift.   

In the 10/19/12 showing of Race, understudy Johnnie McQuarley played the part of lawyer Henry Brown. He expertly captured Brown’s sharp-witted style, playing the perfect foil to Lawson’s world-weary cynicism. He has a unique ability to appear sympathetic, even while cutting through evasions to point out the sordid, racially charged heart of the affair.
Mamet’s play is a compelling dialogue on an issue that plays (and will continue to play) a prominent role in social consciousness. Even after casting all conventions aside, after the characters shout openly about the guilt, shame, and inescapable taboos of racial conventions, nothing is solved.  The play itself concludes abruptly, with no catharsis and no resolution. Its structure mirrors the issue itself: dialogue can only scratch the surface on an issue; the characters still cannot see past race.

David Mamet tackles Race

by Frank Furnari, New Rep Reviewer

Race, David Mamet’s 90 minute, three-scene play about race in America is typical Mamet – brash, abrupt, filled with interrupted, repeated dialogue and bad language.  The play begins abruptly, in the middle of the action, at a law firm.  We meet Charles Strickland (played by Patrick Shea) asking the lawyers to take on his case.  He is accused of raping an African American woman (Charles is white).  The law firm consists of three lawyers, one white, Jack Lawson (Ken Cheeseman), and two black, Henry Brown (Cliffe Odle) and Susan (Miranda Craigwell) – a young woman who has recently completed law school.  As the play continues and the firm decides how to tackle Strickland's case, details emerge both about Strickland and about the lawyers.  I couldn't help but think of the musical Chicago with the way the lawyers explained the legal system and how there is no truth in the legal process.  While this is a very different piece, I was reminded of the song in Chicago – Give em' the ole dazzle dazzle - this is a similar idea, but in a much darker sense.  The play continues until, as Mamet explains in a New York Times piece reprinted in the program – the lie is exposed.  Shortly after the lie is exposed (it will likely not be the lie you are expecting), the play ends just as abruptly as it beings.  No neat or happy ending here.  

Director Robert Walsh assembles a stellar cast for this production. Ken Cheeseman's portrayal of Jack is a great mix of sleazy and smart, an astute lawyer and he really shines in scenes with the young lawyer Susan.  The two have great chemistry together.  The pacing is quick, almost too quick at times – while you are laughing at one line, you’ve missed the next three.  The actors are great with the dialogue and keeping things moving – they really make the piece an engaging one.  Janie E. Howland's set design effectively conveys the feel of a successful law firm's offices; it is professional, yet not over the top.  Along the walls of the office were vertical blinds that sounded as if they were shifting after each scene.  The effect, however, was pretty much lost on me until the final scene where they served to isolate the room from the rest of the office.  

While the play does make for an interesting evening of theatre, I'm unsure what Mamet hopes to add to the discussion on the subject that hasn't been said many times.  Race factors into many (all?) of our interactions, sometimes in more pronounced ways than others, and people can use that to their advantage – again, nothing new.  As Mamet states, we don't know when this struggle will be over, but it continue "until fatigue, remorse and finally forgiveness bring resolution."  His play, like the state of our country today, does not offer resolution, but hopefully continues the dialogue. 

"Race" Bold, Troubling

  

The topic of New Rep’s newest show, “Race,” is a timely and sensitive one, and the brash chutzpah of David Mamet’s script is matched by the boldness and vigor of the production.  Kudos to the actors for heartfelt performances, and to New Rep for taking the risk of a controversial script. 

Racial oppression is deeply entangled with this country’s history and our current social, economic, and political systems.  Mamet’s New York Times  letter to “Race” audiences, re-printed in the show’s program, calls the relationship between black and white Americans a fraught marriage, where “both sides at different times are bitching, and both at different times are bailing, but we’re all in the same boat.”

The boat metaphor works nicely for this show, where the four characters are all supposed to act as a team (three lawyers and their client), but there’s plenty of bitching and bailing on all sides.  The plot revolves around not only the case (an accusation of rape, which Mamet completely trivializes), but also around the intra-office tensions and fault lines (race, sex, age, and varying levels of bitterness). 

The actors deserve commendation for their unflinching portrayals of some less-than-savory characters.  Cliff Odle (who plays Henry Brown) in particular struck us as the heart and soul of the show, even though he isn’t as mouthy or emotional as the main lawyer, Jack Lawson (played by local favorite Ken Cheeseman).  Odle’s performance rings with authenticity, and we got the sense that this character best represents Mamet’s own viewpoints on the subject of race.  (Mamet for unknown reasons gives all of the characters, including Henry, several odd and out-of-place moments of ideological preaching; Odle handled these particularly well.)

Ultimately, the show attempts to convince its audience that race (and sex) lie just below the surface of every social interaction – and on this point, we (mostly) agree.  Yet Mamet then goes a step further to claim that race is a (or perhaps “the”) central motivating force in every action that we all take, as jury members, say, or lawyers, or newspaper-readers, or friends.  The final twist at the end, which attempts to drive home this thesis, is wildly improbable and downright offensive.  The philosophy about race, as a whole, mixes elements of truth and insight with noxious ideological non-thought.

Whatever you may think of Mamet’s racial theorizing, the show will make you think and talk a whole lot about race – and that is a good thing.  Through these discussions, Mamet promises us, “…we not only seem to be but are working it out.”  As the Jews say, from his mouth to God’s ears!

~ Shauna Shames & Johanna Ettin, New Rep Reviewers