Rob Nagle, Massi Pregoni and Robert Mammana (Photo by Philip Pirolo)
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
Moving Arts
Through June 6
Playwright Tom Jacobson double dips into history in his latest work, Tasty Little Rabbit, which conjures a relationship between three historical figures: the brilliant Oscar Wilde, the German photographer Wilhelm von Gloeden, and von Gloeden’s former model, assistant and lover, Pancrazio Buciuni, who became the keeper of von Gloeden’s legacy after he passed away in 1930. The play pivots between two backdrops — the 1930s fascist campaign to wipe out pornography in Sicily and the flourishing gay community in southern Italy in the final decade of the 19th century.
Directed by George Bamber, the play is set in the Sicilian town of Taormina, not far from Mt. Etna, and opens with a visit from Francesco Maffiotti (Rob Nagle), an envoy from Mussolini who is there to investigate any pornographic dealings that might be transpiring among its citizens. At immediate issue is a collection of decades-old photographs taken by von Gloeden (Robert Mammana), historically renowned for his photographs of boys and young men in various states of undress. The photos drew the attention of gay men from northern Europe, many of whom fled to Italy to escape the harsh social landscape and cruel repression meted out to gay people in Northern countries, including Britain, during that time. Among the visitors was Wilde, who spent a month in Taormina in December 1897.
Far from a fanatic, the investigating Maffiotti is actually a reasonable guy whose grandfather had been a painter. Maffiotti is even willing to consider that Gloeden’s photos may have been created in the service of art rather than in support of debauchery. But the town’s chief magistrate, Cesare Acrosso (Mammana), insists that the possession of these photos is a crime and a stain on the state. He has summoned Buciuni (Massi Pregoni) to explain his association with them, and Buciuni’s subsequent passionate defense of Gloeden’s life work becomes the segue to a flashback scenario involving a triangle among Gloeden (Mammana), Wilde (Nagle) and himself (Pregoni plays Buciuni as both a youth and a man of middle age). No surprise, it turns out Buciuni was one of the “tasty little rabbits” referenced by the title.
The trio’s interchange evolves into a competition between Gloeden and Wilde (initially appearing under the pseudonym Sebastian Melmoth) for the affection and respect of the handsome youngster. The dialogue is chockful of cultural references — mythological, theological and literary, across a broad spectrum. There are a variety of photo-taking sequences in which Buciuni is posed as a figure from one myth or another, with the photos and the stories they represent sometimes requiring the participation of either Wilde or even Gloeden himself to illustrate the story behind it. Also, the play detours with a reference to Bram Stoker’s Dracula; handed a copy, Sebastian becomes furious and accuses Stoker of stealing his thunder (Some literary historians have suggested Stoker wrote in response to Wilde’s imprisonment and as a cover for his own repressed, homoerotic passions). While these sequences may be intellectually edifying, they don’t move the action forward.
That stasis is underscored by Mark Mendelson’s scenic design. His picturesque replica of an idyllic Sicily — a prismatic plethora of flowers on a beautiful stone terrace overlooking the sea and sky — is enough to spur one to book a ticket to the Mediterranean on the spot. The problem is that all that gorgeous detail on a very small proscenium leaves minimal room for the actors to move about. That constraint is most evident in Nagle’s performance — both as Maffiotti, an unexpected advocate for tolerance, and as Sebastian/Wilde — a desperately vulnerable man who has suffered public humiliation and shame and is trying his best to survive (perhaps through a liaison with a newly-met beautiful boy).
Among the ensemble Mammana is most assured — but then the characters he portrays, both the fascist ideologue Acrosso and the capable photographer Gloeden, are the most assured characters in the play. Mammana is completely convincing and correspondingly unlikable as an intolerant foot soldier in the fascist regime; responding to him is like registering — and reacting to — an outrageous statement from a Trump lackey. As Buciuni, Pregoni appears to lack a handle on what makes his character tick; his behavior, in the performance I caught, seemed mostly reactive. The scenes between Sebastian and the young Buciuni never caught fire for me.
Instead, the play struck me as one of ideas, a reflection on the struggle of art under a fascist regime; an exploration of love versus lust; of the line between pornography and art; and most importantly a commentary on how the concept and practice of male love is implacably integrated into our culture despite the hypocritical efforts of society to deny it. Yet, all this comes off as rather cerebral, with the emotional resonance that might be generated from a story where love is genuinely manifest never achieved.
Moving Arts, 3191 Casitas Ave., Atwater. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 4 pm; thru June 6.https://movingarts.org/project/tasty-little-rabbit/ Running time: Approximately 95 minutes with no intermission.
