Flower Duet

Reviewed by Neal Weaver
Road Theatre Company
Through July 27

Photo by John Lorenz

Playwright Maura Campbell did use the word flower in the title of her 2010 play, here in its West Coast premiere at the Road Theatre Company, but one wonders if she’d really approve of the fanatical insistence of director Jeffrey Wienckowski and his designers in pursuing the flower imagery: There are flowers everywhere. Downstage is a grassy plot with clumps of flowers blooming, which is reasonable enough. But the interior is also bizarrely flowery: the kitchen wallpaper features floral designs, there’s a blooming vine over the doorway, the lace curtains have flowery patterns, and blossoms are sprouting from the baseboards. Plant life seems to be taking over everything, with cancer-like patches of plants clinging to the walls, the furniture, and even to the costumes. Almost all of the actors are decked out in clothes that seem to be sprouting. Only Patrick Joseph Rieger, as one of the two husbands in the play, wears clothes that are not encrusted with moss, or foliating. Is there significance in this? Who knows?

The duet of the title refers to the duet for two sopranos from Delibes’s 19^th Century opera Lakme, which was so effectively deployed in the movie, The Shawshank Redemption. Here, it’s a piece the play’s two wives are supposed to perform at their friend Alison’s wedding. But, like so much else in this piece, that plan comes to naught.

Act 1 starts promisingly enough, offering a hip anatomization of the two marriages. Sandy (Rieger) is a successful hotshot lawyer married to Maddie (Jessica Noboa), who has a curious penchant for bursting into songs from Camelot. Maddie is well on the way to becoming an alcoholic and obnoxious drunk. And their 4-year-old daughter Daisy (adult actress Kara Hume) may or may not be having psychological problems. So Sandy’s eye has begun to wander — and it’s fixed on Stephanie (Avery Clyde), the beautiful wife of Max (Adam Mondschein).

Max, a photographer with lots of domestic skills, seems like an ideal husband. Among his many assets, he has a talent for gourmet cooking, and there is much banter and bickering over his use of pepper and fennel. He’s resentful of the fact that Stephanie insisted on their living in Vermont to she can be near her father, whom, as it happens, she never sees. She’s dissatisfied with her life, and responds gratefully when Sandy reveals his interest in her. It’s never clear just how far that affair has gone, but it’s enough to make her feel guilty. She tells Max about Sandy’s interest in her, and he’s both angry and upset.

In Act 2, things start to go askew. Instead of resolving any of the many issues she has raised, the playwright starts playing games with time — often a sign of unresolved structural problems. We get scenes set in the past, the present, and the distant future. The unintended effect is to make the piece feel like a cop-out, unfinished, and sacrificing all to an ambiguously happy ending.

All the actors do splendid work here, and their efforts are almost enough to compensate for the script’s flaws. And director Wienckowski guides them deftly and sensitively. The set, with all its burgeoning plant life, is handsomely designed by Christopher Scott Murillo, and the flower-encrusted costumes are by Halei Parker.

The Road Theatre Company (Second Space), The Noho Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd., N. Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through July 27. (866) 811-4111, RoadTheatre.org.