The Real Thing
Like a five course meal, Tom Stoppard provides plenty of emotional grist for the Katselas Theatre Company to sink their teeth into, but the only thing that really bites is how long it takes to swallow this inaugural production whole. The actors ponderously masticate their roles with gnawing affectations, and seemingly spit juicy bits of dialogue with such verbose intensity that it would serve them well to cover their mouths whenever they are speaking.
The challenge with this particular show is the sheer length and breadth of Stoppard’s work overstuffed with superfluous subplots and indulgent characters razzing each other with his trademark cynical wit until it leaves one feeling slightly anemic. Stoppard’s brilliant dialogue and social opines is best served piping hot, but the belabored direction by Allen Barton drags the play interminably long so that much comes across cold and ineffective. Pitting the actors at odd ends onstage distorts much of the action, and blasting music between long scene changes exacerbates the high tedium, exceeded only by the demonstrative, ear-splitting shouting matches that compete against these decibel levels.
Of the cast, the most animated is Jay Huguley as Henry, a pseudo-intellectually superior playwright stuck inside his head but emotionally disconnected within his relationships. Attempting to pull Henry out of his passivity is his second wife Annie, (Susan Duerden), whose compassion and insatiable needs runs ram shod against her husband’s nonchalant expectations of what a marriage should be. Introduced in the awkward framework of a play-within-a-play, Henry’s first wife Charlotte (Ally Wolfe) and Annie’s first husband Max (Peter Leake) become indifferent victims to their spouses’ infidelity.
The plot unwinds like undercooked spaghetti, with nothing really sticking to the wall. As the newlywed couple attempt to rebuild their lives together, Annie fixates her time and attention on an imprisoned political militant, Brodie (Roddy Jessup), whose obstinate activism is more ignorant than insightful. In a manipulative twist, Annie begs, pleads and inevitably issues an ultimatum to Henry to ghostwrite Brodie’s story in a televised play, a request that is simply verboten to Henry’s sensibilities. Between all this dip sum-like drama, Henry deals with his rebellious teenage daughter Debbie (Amanda Kruger) much as he does with all the other women in his life, blindingly incapable of setting any boundaries. The plot thins to an absolute dollop of sex and temptation when Annie wrestles with her conscience, as she becomes a cougar to a flirtatious, young actor Billy, deliciously played by Derek Carter.
The cast gives their all, but it is simply too much all the time. Uncomfortable posturing, incessant pacing to the wet bar and impossible staging muddies the action while conveying a sense of hesitancy and lack of motivation.
Set and lighting design by J. Kent Inasy provides a warm, functional atmosphere without a whole lot of clutter, aptly reserved for Henry’s desk.
Stoppard dishes up a huge heaping of marital friction, social observations, class divisions, and unquenchable mores that proves to be bigger than what this production can handle. By the end of the evening, one should unloose their belt and wait for the play to digest.
“The Real Thing”
Runs through June 20
Skylight Theatre
1816 Vermont Avenue
Hollywood