Photo courtesy of Theatre Palisades
Reviewed by Martίn Hernández
Pierson Playhouse
Through December 15
RECOMMENDED
Steven Dietz’s 1991 play is dubbed “a comedy of suspicions,” and hinges as much on the doubts of the audience as those of his characters. It is rife with storytelling sleights of hand, encompassing flashbacks, flash-forwards, and flashes of wise, witty, and heated dialogue. The play’s theater milieu, where artifice rules, reinforces Dietz’s intrigue as he leads his characters – and the spectators – down one narrative rabbit hole after another. What starts off as a convoluted plot, however, eventually leads to a clear but tortured lesson that “the perfect time to hurt someone never comes.”
Life imitates art when wedded New York actors Matthew (Erin Galloway) and Lisa (Cara Kluver) are cast in a play about infidelity and Matthew begins to suspect s that Lisa and Adrian (Richard Conolly), their eccentric British director, are having an affair. The signs are all there but, rather than confronting the alleged paramours, he delves into flights of fancy, such as ingenious revenge fantasies and the contemplation of his own extramarital tryst with the comely Cory (Nikki Marie), a waitress at a local café who has her own hidden agenda.
Dietz crafts ambiguous scenarios that confuse at first but eventually compel us to decipher whose tale is true. Are the intimate moments portrayed between Lisa and Adrian reality or figments of Matthew’s imagination? Is Lisa’s angst driven by guilt or Matthew’s indifferent attitude about their relationship? Is Cory the harmless server she appears to be or someone riskier? Serving as a pseudo-guide to this emotional onion-peeling is Frank (Richard Osborn), an enigmatic visitor who, like his name, expects folks to be frank and does his best to interpret for us the emotional tumult Matthew and Lisa face. While Frank has some difficulty getting them to face reality, he does deliver a bumpy yet comical version of a Guns ‘N Roses classic, inspired by a more famous Frank.
Director Michael Keith Allen sets a leisurely pace in Dietz’s lengthy script, allowing his cast to mine the piece’s humor and drama with adroit timing. Galloway does well with the chameleon-like Matthew, shifting moods from subservient to intimidating, depending on his mental state. Kluver is forceful as she delivers a blistering monologue that illuminates to the befuddled Matthew the true state of their bond. Conolly’s Adrian is suitably smarmy — for example, telling the thespian couple, “It’s how I work” when he wants to rehearse alone with Lisa and orders Matthew to go out to lunch — while Marie offers comic relief but also drama in a surprisingly key moment for Cory.
Theatre Palisades , Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon Rd., Pacific Palisades. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 2 pm; thru Dec.15. Running time 2 hours, including 10-minute intermission. https://theatrepalisades.org/
