Patrick John Hurley and Rosie Lee Hooks
Reviewed by G. Bruce Smith
Firelight Collective
Through March 9
Firelight Collective describes its newest offering, Everlasting, as “a poignant examination of a man’s past as he grapples with the relentless grip of dementia in the present.” Unfortunately, it’s difficult to feel much compassion for the main character or any other character because the script doesn’t offer what could be a compelling account of the devastating effects of dementia on loved ones. In addition, the pacing of the play — it’s directed by Stephanie Feury — is so slow that, at the performance I attended, the on-stage energy was flat, exacerbating what was sometimes a tedious narrative.
Everlasting follows the decline of Joe (Patrick John Hurley) into dementia over a period of time. At the beginning, there are hints of what is to come — Joe gets lost on a trip to Italy, and he is forgetful about small things. As the story progresses, he gets worse. His decline includes flashbacks to an unhappy first marriage, as well as bizarre hallucinations. Intercut with those incidents are scenes with his current wife, Angela (Rosie Lee Hooks), his caretaker Charlie (William Nicol), and his adult, married-with-kids stepson, Hinton (David Haley). A secondary story centers on Hinton’s relationship with a lover, Kara (Aubree Bouché).
In the script by Feury and Nathan Keyes, all the characters have led ordinary lives — which would be fine if, as ordinary people, we saw them dealing with extraordinary challenges. And, they are doing that — but we don’t see anything particularly painful in it for them. We don’t see how they are struggling with Joe’s dementia.
In addition, so many of the scenes add nothing to the narrative. For example, the relationship between Hinton and Kara could be cut completely. In one scene, Kara sings a song that is quite pretty, and Bouché has a lovely voice, but there is no context for the piece. It’s as if the writers (or perhaps the actor?) wanted the character to sing a song, so it was shoehorned in for no good reason.
There is also a storyline about infidelity, but that issue seems to be water under the bridge for the characters involved.
The few times adrenaline gets going — both onstage and for the audience — is when conflict appears. But the conflict is short-lived and goes nowhere.
Hurley captures well his descent into dementia, his confusion and pain. The rest of the cast does solid work, but one wonders how much better they might have performed given a better script and direction.
The set, lighting and sound design are outstanding. The set (Matt Brown) puts the action into a cozy, old-fashioned living room, dining area and study, complete with well-worn Persian carpets, a piano and a large bookcase. The lighting (Brandon Baruch) beautifully enhances the mood of the story, as does the wonderful sound design (Aubree Bouché) that would work equally well in a film.
Firelight Collective @ Stephanie Feury’s Studio Theatre, 5036 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat., 7:30 pm., Sundays 7 pm; firelightcollective.com. Running time: One hour and 40 minutes with no intermission.
