Woman Parts

Reviewed by Deborah Klugman

It’s hard to imagine two more dissimilar plays than Linda McLean’s Sex and God and Sibyl O’Malley’s Lamentations of the Pelvis, which together make up a feminist themed double-header at Son of Semele Ensemble. Written and directed by women, they share a female focus but are otherwise as stylistically different as any two works can be.

Directed by Barbara Kallir, Sex and God is an elegiac piece that intertwines the narratives of four Scottish women living in different decades of the 20^th century. Bound by poverty, they struggle with pregnancy, domestic violence, loneliness and loss. In the most heart-rending tale, a loving mother (performed with eloquence by Melina Bielefelt) loses her young ones to social services after the kids repeatedly shoplift to stave off hunger.

Of the four, Bielefelt’s bereft mum is the most compelling, but there are also cogent performances from Betsy Moore, who plays an oppressed worker’s angry spouse near the turn of the 20^th century, and Hilletje Bashew as a contemporary adventuress impelled to travel the world. Sarah Rosenberg’s abused, intimidated wife still needs some fleshing out.

Despite the fine work on stage and some lyrical passages, the women’s stories are sometimes hard to follow. Gaps exist, both in the chronicling of their lives and in the intense counterpoint created by their alternating voices. There’s also very little humor, and the theme of their collective oppression is anything but subtle.

Lamentations of the Pelvis, on the other hand, is an absurdist piece with no clear message, but the performances are enjoyable enough to overlook the fragmented and pointless plot. The most developed of several scenarios concerns an unhappy housewife (Laura Carson) who becomes the admiring “assistant” of  a charlatan magician (John Grady). Under Becca Wolff’s direction, both Grady and Carson are spot-on, he as an unapologetic narcissist and she as his gullible follower. Marianne Thompson crafts an engaging depiction of a witty would-be suicide (with, incidentally, a beautiful singing voice) and Briana Venskus is appealing as her androgynous wooer. A third plotline involves a salacious bridal party of three women (Stephanie Berlanga, Joelle Mendoza and Sarah Rosenberg) who prey on a hapless drummer boy (Alec Tomkiw). Why he’s been targeted is a mystery, but the slapstick works well.

Son of Semele Ensemble, 3301 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; Mon. 7 p.m. (May 19); through June 1. (213) 351-3507. www.sonofsemele.org