“A Homecoming” at the Player’s Theatre; “Human Fruit Bowl” at C.O.W.; “Marshall’s Law” at CSV Teatro Latea
“A Homecoming” at the Player’s Theatre “Human Fruit Bowl” at C.O.W. “Marshall’s Law” at CSV Teatro Latea Reviewed by David Roberts Theatre Reviews Limited
Thursday August 22nd was another washout at the New York International Fringe Festival: not only with rain of varying intensities but also with stage performances with varying intensities from mediocre to awful.
Let us begin with awful. Joseph Beck’s dysfunctional-family-with-mother-with-dementia play “A Homecoming” boasts two strikes and a foul ball. Strike one is an unconvincing script with characters no one could possibly care about: recovering alcoholics who seem to prefer not to be recovered; a couple who should never have married in the first place; brothers who should know batter; and a sister who could not be less engaged with her family. Not one of those characters is defined with any depth or realism. The only character who warrants an honest performance is the family priest who, perhaps unwittingly, is played as a disinterested, uncaring, and useless human being. Strike two is direction which considers ear-splitting screaming tour de force performance. The foul ball is the cast itself which scrambles about the stage searching for something in the script to hold onto long enough to make a connection. And what ultimately brings the deserved strike-out is the gratuitous nudity. The audience knows one minute into the play that Lee (the mother) has Alzheimer’s: we in no way need to see mum strut the stage in complete nudity. Live-in Nurse Callahan (why did she have to be Irish?) should have kept closer watch on mums so the audience would not have to see as much of her. Performances have ended for this play.
Disappointingly, Andrea Kuchlewska’s “Human Fruit Bowl” championed mediocrity but it was far from awful. It is somewhat likely that the obtrusive and gratuitous nudity in the afore-reviewed “A Homecoming” had some deleterious effect on the appreciation of the completely acceptable and legitimate nudity in “Human Fruit Bowl.” But the problems run deeper than comparison blues. In this case the intriguing story of Beth a young nude model (a human fruit bowl –get it?) counterpointing stories about her daily agenda, her life as an artist’s model, her daily encounters with the aggressive artist who is painting her in and out of Pierre Bonnard poses and tubs, and her “art history stories” which focus on famous painters and their models, especially Bonnard and models Marthe de Meligny and Renee Monchaty is not supported by inventive direction. Even the script itself belies the possibilities of the story’s successful telling: from the introduction of the mystery painter and Beth’s creation of to-do lists during breaks, the audience knows that this painter (Alex) is moving in with Beth. The “revelation” at the end is not surprising. Harmony Stemple (Beth) does her very best to make all of this work and cannot be faulted for the production’s flaws. Performances have ended for this play.
Marshall is a boy who almost lost his life in a car accident and, in recovery from coma and PTSD, remembers exactly what happened the night of the accident and the details as recorded by the police and accepted by his mother Abby (Danielle Taddei) are not at all accurate. His biological father Zach (Shadley Grel) was not driving drunk that evening and was not responsible for his lover Roger’s death and his son’s near death. Mr. Grel’s “Marshall’s Law” and its interesting plot are driven by complicated and convoluted conflicts between characters seen (Zach and Abby) and unseen (Roger, MJ, and Doug, and Marshall). Although the plot is somewhat predictable, it could be more powerful with more careful direction. David Avcollie moves his actors in plodding and predictable ways and has them screaming and shouting explicative-not-deleted phrases to create character. These two former friends and unintentional parents would not use the language they use knowing their son is listening outside the basement door in the room where he has locked them until they hear and deal with the truth. Performances continue on Saturday August 24th at 9:30 p.m. and Sunday August 25th at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets are $18.00 at the door and $15.00 for advance purchase. For more information about the shows, running times, and the cast and creative team, please visit www.AHomecoming.com ; and www.humanfruitbowl.com. For more information about the 17th Annual New York Fringe Festival visit www.FringeNYC.org.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Friday, August 23, 2013
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