Sometimes shows just aren't ready for opening night. It happens. Such is the case with The Ensemble Theatre's latest production, Durang/Durang, a showcase of four short plays and a monologue by satirist Christopher Durang. In many shows, one or two aspects of the production might not be completed when the curtain rises for the first paying performance. For co-directors Ben Weisenberg and Tim Hart, this was a performance that needed more dress and tech rehearsals. On the pitifully attended opening Friday night, problems were encountered in performances and technical elements. The show started off evenly, but as the evening progressed, the production became unintentionally humorous because of unrehearsed actors, untested scene changes, and unfamiliar lighting marks. Even with the vast array of problems encountered by cast and crew, there are glimmers that give hope that once the show settles in, it should eventually prove entertaining for the correct reasons.
It all begins with a welcoming monologue by theatre patron Mrs. Sorkin (Rebecca A. Siegel), who explains it all for you. In a canny sense of timing, the first of the four short plays is Durang's parody of The Glass Menagerie, which is currently playing at Phoenix Theatre, entitled For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls. The second piece is a poke at pretentious experimental theatre entitled Nina in the Morning. The second act starts with a John Guare parody about the ex-girlfriend from Hell in Wanda's Visit, and ends with the autobiographical and biting look at a playwright in La-La-Land in Business Lunch at the Russian Tea Room.
Save for the necessarily inventive staging of Nina in the Morning, neither Weisenberg nor Hart have infused much directorial spirit into the show. The blocking is pedestrian, such as the seemingly random movements in Southern Belle, and the pacing is either adequate or sluggish.
Some actors within scenes seem to be reluctantly strolling the stage, as in Jay Melius' punchless take on Tom in Southern Belle. Fortunately, if they can locate lighting marks and are not defeated by Hart's spastic lighting or ill-handled front curtain, many of the performers achieve success. When self-assured, as in Seigel's hilarious riff to open the show and the entire oddity of the Nina scene, the evening can be quite funny. Seigel and Barbara McGrath are consistently entertaining with their comedy. When McGrath turns Amanda into a sarcastic bitch in Southern Belle, and Siegel inflicts herself on a couple in Wanda's Visit, the production hums along. Bisk Consoli and Kindra Steenerson are always enjoyable, and occasionally brilliant. Consoli, who reminds me of SNL's Will Ferrell, and Steenerson have their comedic timing down perfectly in Wanda's Visit. Christopher McCormick and Leanne Oates are the highlights as Durang and a self-obsessed and psychotic Hollywood studio concept woman in Business Lunch.
Durang's humor is generally on target, and though the piece, which had its first production a few years back at Playwright's Horizon, is showing its age with jokes about Clinton and such, it can still make an audience laugh. With more practice, this show may finally hit a stride. That much was hinted at by the inadvertent final tech rehearsal I sat through Friday night.
Production Details:
Durang/Durang Four Short Plays by Christopher
Durang
The Ensemble Theatre
The Metro Theatre, Scottsdale (For a
map to this location, click this
link)
(480) 874-0806
April 12th - 28th, 2002