Reviewed by Lovell Estell III
City Garage
Through June 28.
RECOMMENDED
David E. Frank and Nicolet Anton (Photo by Paul Rubenstein)
The trouble always begins with love . . . Andrew.
Charles Mee has compiled a notable body of work over the years, which includes novels as well as plays. He is a complex artist; his style is both challenging and unconventional. He has frequently drawn on material from history and literature to frame and explore contemporary philosophical and moral issues in his theatrical works. Here, he turns to simple matters of the heart in a play involving an age-gap romance set, appropriately enough, in La Ville de l’amour. It’s a simple love story and a refreshing departure from the much “weightier” plays that have become a staple of City Garage (Mee does not do simple often).
Ya Ya (portrayed with energetic, sassy flair by Nicolet Anton) is a free-spirited young woman who works as a singer in a Parisian nightclub. Since her divorce from an older man, she is content with living life as it comes. She meets Andrew, an American, (David E. Frank) at a café, where after minutes of chit-chat, the conversation turns to their relationship status. (He is also recently divorced, in addition to being much older.) After dinner and a stop at Ya’ Ya’s cabaret for a song, they retire to her boudoir and have sex.
From here on, this “fling,” as Ya Ya calls it, becomes a subtle, elusive dance of attraction and seduction, propelled by Mee’s witty, humorous prose, with Andrew and Ya-Ya taking turns at the lead, and each slowly revealing the vulnerability and desires of the other. We follow them to a dress shop; for a walk near the Seine; to a tastefully presented scene where Andrew helps bathe Ya-Ya; and finally, to what appears to be a final goodbye at the same place they first met.
Director Frederique Michel draws well-calibrated performances from the cast, and again reveals her knack for evocative, “creative atmosphere-ing.” There are gorgeous black and white video stills (fine work by Anthony Sannazzaro) of Paris and Parisian life displayed throughout (especially striking is one of two people kissing with the Eiffel Tower looming in the background), and there are some lively French song-and-dance routines performed by Anton and multi-talented choreographer Cruz St. James, who also plays a waiter and nightclub performer, Madame Josephine. Charles Duncombe provides a simple but attractive set, and an effective lighting design.
City Garage Theatre, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building T1, Santa Monica. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 4 pm; through June 28. https://www.citygarage.org Runtime: one hour and 25 minutes, with no intermission.
