Linden Arden Stole the Highlights

Theatre Asylum
Through June 27

RECOMMENDED:

Say “yes” to the whisky. Colin Mitchell has resurrected a one-person play he first staged in 1996 and has dusted off for a remount at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Written and performed by Mitchell, and directed by Christian Levatino, Linden Arden Stole the Highlights tells the fanciful first-person tale of a man now pushing 50 who, for a handful of years, became enmeshed in the street drug trafficking scene in post-Hippie San Francisco. After helping himself to some of the drug money, sticky fingered Linden fled retribution by holing up in Arklow — a remote country village in Scotland.

The American interloper is ostracized by its native inhabitants. What happens when past nemeses catch up with this anti-hero — some 20- years in hiding — is the stuff of minor legend. In 1974 Northern Irish folk singer-songwriter Van Morrison released a song about the character he later claimed was fictional, and Mitchell took that title, fleshing out the bones of the fable for his self-starring play.

Mitchell’s show begins with Linden yawning, wiping the sleep from his eyes, then settling down to a shave with a straight razor. Suddenly he notices the audience. He appears unsure as to whether or not we are figments of his imagination, but addresses us anyway, regaling us with a portion of his life’s story in a mostly rhetorical and rambling fashion. A lightly sketched portrait of a smart-mouthed opportunist eventually emerges, amidst shaggy dog digressions and bouts of bellowed antagonism towards the pesky local kids. One such interruption brings a soccer ball to his door, which prompts a bit of fancy footwork that then segues into a vivid yet random story about a memorable soccer moment our central character once observed.

Unfortunately, there’s a layer of extreme staginess to this play, as well as in Mitchell’s performance, to the extent that the whole piece feels shrouded by a fog of phoniness. There’s Mitchell as Linden “suddenly” noticing the audience’s presence. Mitchell pretends to shave, but only actually shaves his neck; his beard remains. Linden irons a shirt and dresses for Sunday church, but the shirt is already pressed and the iron is cold. On the numerous occasions that Linden becomes distracted and annoyed by the neighborhood kids at his door, Mitchell never actually hears or registers their presence, he simply reacts. Perhaps they are also figments of Linden’s imagination, yet the soccer ball is real. Mitchell has altered Van Morrison’s celebration of “an Irish American living in San Francisco” to give his character Scottish origins, to suit Mitchell’s nostalgia for his own lineage. Clever lines such as “I am the Boo Radley of Arklow,” ring hollow; Boo Radley didn’t attend church every Sunday.

Despite his mannerisms, Mitchell gives an entertaining performance and the story itself, while scattered, is vividly told. Interestingly, as Linden’s demeanor becomes increasingly unhinged, we begin to doubt his reliability as a narrator. The character also sips from a whisky glass for the entire show and, early on, offers to share his Glenlivet with anyone who wants some. So yeah, say ‘yes’ to the whisky. It’s damn fine.—Pauline Adamek

Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights and Interarts, Inc. at Theatre Asylum, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1589

Sex, Lies, and Social Media

Theatre Asylum
Through June 29

A mostly dull collection featuring corny humor, Sex, Lies, and Social Media is a loosely connected evening of five 10-minute short plays by different writers; Dan Berkowitz, Ron Burch, Elin Hampton, Lorin Howard and Mary Steelsmith. Live tweeting is encouraged between each play by the evening’s sultry hostess, Mariah Bonner, who introduces each play and appears as a succubus in the final one. These five were selected for presentation after a competition staged by the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights (ALAP).

Common themes in each include sexual inclination, relationships and an examination of the effect of social media on daily interaction. Regrettably only two of the five have any merit.

In Mary Steelsmith’s “Happy and Gay, two drippy women, Betty (AnnaLisa Erickson) and Veronica (Steelsmith), are decorating a church hall for a pending gay wedding reception. The acting is atrocious and their nervous conversion is fake and overly cute. Additionally, the emotional payoff feels forced and unearned.

“Casey229”by Elin Hampton is funny and an improvement on the first play. After annoyingly talking around the issue, Pam (Elin Hampton) indicates she has tracked down the person whom she’s certain is conducting a cyber love affair with her husband. After confronting a portly, middle-aged shut-in named Ken (David Fury), she realizes her husband has been duped into thinking he was corresponding with a young woman. Hampton’s play maximizes the humor when we see the lengths Ken has gone to in creating his fake identity. Pam’s act of compassion by the play’s overly saccharine conclusion, however, is unconvincing.

Ron Burch’s “Rebecca’s Broken Less Than Sign Number 3” is a cute play that’s really well done; definitely the best of the bunch. Two commiserating friends, Rebecca (Diana Romo) and Megan (Oriko Ikeda), are communicating via Facebook’s messaging feed. Both are shown at their computers but we hear them speaking their writing aloud, articulating all the codes that people commonly use. Hence we hear terms such as “smiley face” and “exclamation point, exclamation point” and even “less than sign number 3” which turns into a heart symbol when entered on Facebook. The dialogue is rapid and odd, but if you’re familiar enough with this kind of coded communication on social media, you’ll soon clue in to their hilarious conversation. Producer Rose Desena directs it brilliantly, especially when an interested party, Bill (Dan Heber), interrupts their chat by popping up on Rebecca’s page.

The remaining two plays are duds. Lorin Howard’s “Uncomfortable Sex” has a young woman (Kristen Gull) arranging an in-person date for her grandmother (Joanna Miles) with hopeful suitor Marty (TJ Castronovo) via the online dating world. In “The Devil Made Me Do It”by Dan Berkowtiz, a succubus (Mariah Bonner) hopes to seduce a sleeping man (Berkowtiz), until he spoils everything by waking up.—Pauline Adamek

Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights at Theatre Asylum,   6329 Santa Monica Blvd., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1583

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