Go Back To Where You Are

Reviewed by Terry Morgan
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble
Through September 4

One of the definitions of “meta-theatrical” is a theatre piece that constantly reminds the audience that they’re watching a play — one which comments on theatre in general. One famous example of this technique is Our Town, where the Stage Manager — not the narrator, mind you, but explicitly the Stage Manager — tells the audience immediately that watching a play is what they’re doing. The thing is, if one is going to be that playful with the audience, one had better have a work solid enough to ground the game. David Greenspan’s Go Back To Where You Are, currently receiving a strong production at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, unfortunately is too ephemeral to succeed in its ambitions.

Famous actress Claire (Shannon Holt) is having a get-together at her Long Island beach house. Her playwright brother Bernard (Justin Huen) is attending, and is between bouts of writing a play (which seems to be this one). Theatre director Tom (Bill Brochtrup) and his set designer partner Malcolm (Jeffrey Hutchinson) are fighting over Tom’s infidelities, while Charlotte (Annabelle Gurwitch), a less successful actress than Claire, languishes in her shadow. Claire’s adult son Wally (Andrew Walke) can’t get over his dead lover. The party’s most unusual guest, however,  is Passalus (John Fleck), an ancient Greek actor that God’s hoisted up from Hell to perform a mysterious job.

Fleck, who switches characters and accents with agile aplomb, is marvelous, and he benefits from the show’s only complete character arc. Holt nails her character’s false modesty — which conceals her true contempt for others — while Gurwitch is funny and sympathetic as the struggling Charlotte. Brochtrup and Hutchinson are so compelling one wishes that their story was given more stage time. Although Bernard, as written, is merely a sketch, Huen’s performance makes him feel real and interesting. Walke, by contrast, can’t quite overcome the playwright’s generic blueprint for Wally.

Director Bart DeLorenzo orchestrates all of the character-swapping, time-hopping structural challenges of the piece with admirable precision, and gets great work from his talented ensemble. Nina Caussa’s beach set is bold in its simplicity, yet lovely nonetheless, and Michael Gend’s dexterous lighting design aids the many sudden time/scene changes immeasurably.

The main problem with Greenspan’s interesting play is that it’s too short to give most of its characters any time to really register with us: It’s one of those rare shows one wishes were longer. Also, the characters deliver an excess of exposition; there’s too much tell, and not enough show. And there are three major characters that are talked about but never appear on stage, which makes it difficult for the audience to truly feel their absence.

Overall, this is a good production of a flawed play. It’s full of good actors and amusing moments, but ultimately it feels like a first draft that requires further construction. 

Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles; Fri. -Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m.; through Sept. 4. www.OdysseyTheatre.com. Running time: 1 hour and 20 minutes with no intermission.