Ivy Khan, Kris Frost and Christian Prentice (Photo by Peggy McCartha)
Reviewed by Terry Morgan
The Road Theatre
Through May 19
The subject of machines replacing human workers has been with us for a long time, and yet it never seems to stop being relevant. The latest iteration of this technological topic involves the proliferation of artificial intelligence to create cheap art or articles (expect theater reviews from AI soon – e.g. “The actors are very lifelike”), among other things. Peter Ritt’s play, High Maintenance, posits the creation of a “thespbot” to replace live actors and, going in, one imagines a show in which that scenario is explored and debated by those who would be replaced. Alas, this is not that show. High Maintenance is instead a bland comedy with a rote romantic subplot that forces a good cast to work very hard to bring heat to this undercooked script.
Laura (Ivy Khan) is a TV star who has the reputation of being a bit of a diva. To combat this perception, she has agreed to play Nora in a stage production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House alongside an “automated performer,” a humanoid robot which prefers to be referred to as Roger (Chistian Prentice). Roger’s creator and handler, Alan (Kris Frost), says that the bot learns how to be a better actor by interacting with people, and so Laura ends up spending a lot of time with Roger, both on and offstage. Laura’s best friend, Gus (Merrick McCartha), thinks that this bonding is a bad idea, but Laura finds Roger’s incipient signs of humanity to be fascinating.
Khan does what she can with the surprisingly dry role of Laura, who exists mainly as a “straight man” to set up jokes for the other actors. Prentice excels as Roger, effective in both comedic moments and in eliciting sympathy for the character. Frost is very funny and energetic as Alan, exuding a very focused Tom Cruise-like vibe. McCartha is stuck with a lot of quips that don’t quite land, and the role as written seems to be that of a stock “gay best friend.”
Director Stan Zimmerman can’t overcome the problems with the writing, and the pacing drags. The problems with Ritt’s play are twofold. The dialogue resembles generic sitcom shtick, and this was compounded by the fact that the audience I saw it with barely laughed during the 90-minute runtime. If you’re noticing that nobody is laughing during what is supposed to be a comedy, that’s a problem. I’ve already mentioned that the AI/robots replacing workers question is mostly missing here, but also the idea of Laura being “high maintenance” — the very title of the play — is also completely absent. Laura as written couldn’t be nicer or more cooperative.
High Maintenance is a professional production of an uneven play. Even the generally excellent Road Theatre is going to occasionally encounter a few bumps in its path.
The Road Theatre, 10747 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood; plays in repertory through May 19 (check website for dates and times). https://roadtheatre.org/. Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
