Tooth And Nail
Brain tumors. Adopted daughters. Homosexual, flower arranging neighbors. Hamster son-in-laws. Erections and Peter O’Toole. This is not just your basic, average, everyday, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, ho-hum, dysfunctional family comedy.
Fighting tooth and nail for some semblance of normalcy, Ellie (Lynn Odell), an overbearing Weehawken wife and mother to three adopted daughters, dominates her emasculated and addled brained husband, Gerald (Gregory Mortensen) in her desperate attempt to keep him alive from the brain tumor the size of a “cashew.” Only a shell of the man he used to be, Gerald clumsily shuffles in his role as husband and father, not achieving more than a few misspoken words and generating more hurt feelings and animosity from his wild child Dylan (Tara Norris) than understanding and closeness.
The pills keeping Gerald alive are also the poison sapping his mind of memory or emotion. Not to mention his screeching wife like white noise buzzing in the background as she muses over the new neighbors and refers to Weehawken as “a cultural center” due to the local movie theatre’s showing of their favorite film Lion in Winter. More prepared for death than another few good years with Ellie, (and who can blame him?) Gerald makes the conscious decision to forego the pills and enjoy the last few months of his life with his wits still intact. A decision, Ellie cannot reconcile for fears of losing her beloved and rather malleable mate.
The setup of the family dynamics, the flamboyantly gay neighbors, and the soon to be son-in-law that has his own family issues, (his surname is Hamster...enough said) struggles in Act I to find its footing on the welcome mat. Lynn Odell plays the New Jersey mistress of the house to an almost unbearable pitch and whips about the gorgeous set like a blind parakeet trapped in a lion’s den. Less may have been more in terms of the juxtaposition between Ellie’s high strung hen pecking and Gerald’s somnambulist ennui. The punchy lines are occasionally buried in all the endless action, but Act II finds its focus with Gerald’s personality shift into Peter O’Toole’s role of Henry II after a nasty fall on the ladder.
Heaping problems on problems on even more problems, is a family dinner where all the daughters, the neighbors and the Hamster boyfriend celebrate an unexpected pregnancy, but this night of course devolves into discovery, sacrifice, and the thread running throughout the play of living for the now. The characters of this bonanza o’ brouhaha are almost painfully overwrought. The youngest, whiniest daughter has a pig’s heart for Pete’s sake and is attacked by a gaggle of mentally challenged Catholics ala Cujo. The floral arranging artiste, Julien (Tom Stanczyk) wears a cape and has an exotic accent even though he’s from Detroit, much to his uptight partner’s chagrin. But Gregory Mortensen somehow pulls all the unwinding threads of chaos, and gives this play heart, fire, and joy. It’s unbelievable, but then, whose family isn’t?
Set at a rapid fire, unrelenting pace, director Lindsey Allbaugh occasionally muddies the scenes with too much posturing and hyperactive grandstanding. The cast can be accused of overacting, but the passion and verve more than make up for it. Mortensen is hands down a delight and any fans of Lion in Winter or Dr. Phil will heartily applaud this schizoid family that at the end of the day is just like a Renaissance version of The Walton’s.
“Tooth and Nail”
Produced by Elephant Theatre Company
At the Elephant Stageworks’
Lillian Theatre
1076 N. Lillian
(On the corner of Santa Monica Blvd., 1 block W. of Vine)
Runs through Sat., June 14th
Thurs, Fri, and Sat at 8pm
Sundays at 7pm
For tickets: 323-960-4410