Theatre Maxim's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at PlayWright's Theatre
(out of 
)Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 12/2/99
(out of )Playwright John Patrick Shanley, best known for his film Moonstruck, obsesses on his native Bronx home in the way that Stephen King has a fixation for Maine. Almost all of his work is set in the New York City borough, and populated with disenfranchised, rage-filled citizens. These angry young men and women are trapped and molded by their past, and operate on an energy level that brings them to a near-burnout level as they approach their thirties. Each has the capacity for horrendous violence, and for deep, compassionate bonding, though one must overcome the other to be realized.
It is Mr. Shanley's most famous play, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, that Directors Dominik Rebilas and Shana Bousard have loosed on the stage of PlayWright's Theater, creating a near 180 degree turn from their first presentation. With any other script, their liberal cutting, markedly toned-down interpretation and exhaustive pacing might have been the downfall of this production. Somehow, because of Mr. Shanley's general love of repetition, his almost too-graphic tendency to violence, and the surprisingly realistic New York feel that the clipped pace allows, the production succeeds on its own. This is a Danny that even the squeamish, if not necessarily the purists, can love.
Danny and Roberta meet in a deserted Bronx bar, running from their separate demons. Danny may have let his staggering rage kill a man, while Roberta is carrying a horrifying secret that may explode from her chest like something out of Alien. These two condemned souls first prod and poke each other to test the others resilience, then intricately embrace like two deadly-quilled porcupines in an attempt to discover the beautiful in their wretched lives. Lost in this production is the tangible fear that either may haul out and kill the other without warning, especially on Roberta's side, but there's still plenty of tension to go around.
Mr. Rebilas and Ms. Bousard have rapidly paced this show and trimmed it by more than half-an-hour, bringing it in at just over an hour without an intermission. They have taken out a few of Danny's abusive outbursts, and made Roberta even more desperately predatory of her salvation than usual. They have also not included the characteristic nudity of the second scene in this three scene play, when the fighters become lovers and bask in the pseudo-moonlight of desire with their defenses shed. Always the stumbling block of this production, yet an authorial touch that does help the plot and themes of this show, the evening works without them, but does lose something with the choice.
Their casting has aided in balancing many of the potential detriments in their other choices. They seem to have pulled Sonny Shellito out of a hat to portray the menacing Danny. In his Arizona premiere, Mr. Shellito has captured the beast and wounded child within wonderfully. He can nearly strangle at one moment, and easily turn it to a loving hug and whimpering plea nearly instantaneously, a necessary attribute needed to bring Danny to life. He also has the added benefit of a frighteningly realistic Bronx accent and presence (to which I can attest from my upbringing). Chameleon-like ASU grad April Umbrianna, whom I had reviewed on a few other occasions but did not recognize, is nearly as impressive with her presentation of the drowning Roberta. While she does a great job portraying the pursuit and pushing-away, she is not quite volatile enough to sustain the balance of terror necessary to win over the brutish Danny.
The stark tone of the script is realized in the unbilled set design, which incorporates a prison-like tone. Lighting Technician David Vaught has also done well bringing across the hiding night and the revealing day.
Be aware that, as a playwright, I lean toward being a purist. Save for the excessive loquaciousness of, say, a Stoppard, I am rarely in favor of cutting a script. For those of you who have wanted to experience the world of Danny, but were put off by the explicitness of the tone, this will be a wonderful way to experience the cathartic powers of love. Even survivors of prior, more explicit productions of Danny will probably enjoy this not-nearly-as-death-defying battle between Danny and Roberta.
Production Details:
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
by John Patrick Shanley
Theatre Maxim
PlayWright's Theatre, Phoenix
(602) 265-3418
December 2nd - December 11th, 1999