Nice Fish 

Reviewed by Dana Martin 
Interact Theatre Company at the Los Angeles Shakespeare Center 
Through March 25th 

The water is murky and visibility low at the Los Angeles Shakespeare Center. Interact Theatre Company loses sight of solid ground early on as they navigate uncertain terrain with Nice Fish by Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins. The play clumps prose into scenes with minimal success, leaving the audience floundering for a through line.

It begins with two friends ice fishing on the last day of fishing season. One is a seasoned fisherman, the other a novice. The first act is a series of short poems delivered both as idle fishing chatter and as heightened text spoken directly to the audience. The friends pontificate, wax poetic, contemplate, and wonder aloud, but we never actually get to know the characters, nor have any reason to care about them. The scenes are short, punctuated by frequent, unnecessary blackouts; all too soon, the play floats far from the shoreline of understandability. The second act is a total mystery. Other characters show up. There are several puppets. One comes to life, — maybe.  Everyone sings and dances. Spring arrives. I think that’s what happens.

Directors Rob Brownstein and Anita Khanzadian rarely allow the poetry itself to do the heavy lifting. The central focus seems to be on creating story, not on the poetry itself, which just doesn’t translate. There is no discernible sense of flow, story arc or character development and the poetry isn’t given the attention or framing it deserves. Carol Doehring’s overly dark blackout and heavy lighting creates a choppy pace. Carolyn Mazuca’s costume design is the clearest aspect of the storytelling: it feels like a welcome life raft. Eric Babb’s prop design over compensates for the story’s shortcomings, filling in every gap with a prop. There are a lot of props.

The actors do the best they can with what they are given. Don Fischer is likable enough as seasoned fisherman Erik, and Barry Heins is fine as fish-out-of-water Ron. The evening’s most notable performance belongs to Tamika Simpkins, the salty, over-it DNR Officer. Simpkins finds the most grandeur and sweetness in the poetry, and she manifests the clearest point of view throughout the evening. 

Staging poetry requires that the language itself take center stage. Weighing the poetry down with too much pedestrian business ultimately dilutes the potentially potent power of the prose. Interact Theatre Company’s staging of Nice Fish forces the audience to work overtime in order to make any sense of the world of the play, and with little incentive. It’s exhausting. The message of the play is wrapped up in a riddle that will never be solved; a wholly unsatisfying outcome. Sometimes one can spend all day with a line in the water and come up with nothing. Luckily, there’s always next season.

Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, 1238 W. 1st Street, Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; Sun., 4 p.m.; through March 25th; (818)765-8732 or interactla.org.; Running time: 2 hours with a 10 minute intermission.