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Something Truly Monstrous
Reviewed by Jessica Salans
The Blank Theatre
Through November 8
RECOMMENDED:
A plain, checkered black and white stage welcomes the entrance of a tall, brooding and handsome man in a white sports coat, sauntering down the staircase like Rick Blaine in Casablanca. Because, well, is Rick Blaine in Casablanca. Or rather, it’s actor Jason Paul Field, playing actor Humphrey Bogart, playing Rick Blaine in Casablanca. A bell rings. Cut.
Enter Bogart and Casablanca co-star, Peter Lore (Amir Levi), on the set, talking. Bogart laments the failure of his career and how the current project is equally tragic. Lorre, stuck in B-roles playing grotesque monsters (when he could been a starving actor in Berlin theater with Bertolt Brecht,) has been offered a seven year contract by Warner Bros. studio head, Jack Warner. Bogart warns that if Lorre signs the contract, he’ll be stuck playing second-rate roles forever. This is when Lorre decides to do “something truly monstrous” to teach Jack Warner a lesson. The action includes a drunken high ride with a maimed Bogart, accompanied by a corpse in the backseat and the addition of a third cast member, the eager-to-ascend-into-stardom, Paul Henreid (Jilon Vanover).
The fourth cast member, the corpse, is the body Shakespearean icon actor, John Barrymore. Legend says (from Australian-American actor, Errol Flynn’s memoirs) that film director Raul Walsh “borrowed” Barrymore’s body before its burial and left it in Flynn’s living room, propped up with drink and cigar. Playwright Jeff Tabnick alters the legend’s given circumstances, and I’m not telling how.
The actors are engaging playing actors who happen into a high stakes situation. They successfully tread the line between being caricatures and human. What is less successful is Jeff Tabnick’s story, in which the character’s goals have little to do with the unfolding events.
Daniel Henning depicts the multiple realities well, allowing for a world of theater commenting on itself, with set bells to indicate the change of action and two stage hands dressed as set changers on a ’40s film. The story is supported with astute design work from Ginnie Ann Held (set), Jeremy Pivnick (lights), Warren Davis (sound), Allison Dillard (costumes) and Rick Baumgarter and Erik Carabasi (video).
The Blank Theater; 6500 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90038; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through Nov. 8. https://www.theblank.com/something-truly-monstrous/ Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
