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Man Covets Bird
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
24th Street Theatre
Through November 22
The 24th Street Theatre has distinguished itself by staging plays that have something to say to children and adults alike. While the productions display elements of fun and fancy, they also deal with disappointment and aging and loss – experiences we all encounter as part of our human condition.
In Man Covets Bird by Australian playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer, a disaffected young man (Andrew Huber) bonds with a small bird, carrying it with him when he leaves his parents’ home for the big city. The bird’s companionship – and its song – nurture the man as he struggles through a joyless life in a dull and meaningless job.
In its original staging (at the 2010 Adelaide Festival of Arts), the show was performed as a solo piece with three backup musicians. Here director Debbie Devine transforms the bird into a character, embodied by clarinetist and all-round backup musician and composer, Leeav Sofer. Sofer’s on-stage presence and his interaction with Huber, musically and otherwise, brings texture and humor to the narrative.
The production also evokes a fable-like quality in videographer Matthew’s Hills’s engaging animation, with its flocks of birds in flight and its silhouette of a city skyline, among other appealing images. Sofer’s clarinet solos are lovely, while Crystal Myers’ sound design adds plenty of atmospheric dimension.
The story, however, doesn’t quite resonate. Huber does fine as the storyteller and (as guitarist) half of a performing musical duo. But the individual he’s portraying is a bit too anonymous – too much of an Everyman – to be interesting. The problem lies first with the script’s lax and rambling plot and its generic blueprint for conflict: man against the machine. They are weaknesses that this skillful production and Huber’s neutral presentation never entirely compensate for.
24th Street Theatre, 1117 West 24th Street, L.A.; Sat., 3 & 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 3:00 p.m. (dark Oct. 24, 25, 31 and Nov. 1); through November 22. (213) 745-6516, www.24thstreet.org.
