PACING PLAGUES PANGLOSSIAN PRODUCTIONS'

PRIVATE EYES

Theater Babe Says:  Go ... if you're ready to take a chance on experimental theater.

Steven Dietz's Private Eyes is a reality-bending script in which the audience is supposed to be left wondering whether the action was (a) literal, (b) a play-within-a-play or (c) merely the imaginings of one of its major characters.  While the Theater Babe applauds Panglossian for its attempt to present this unusual piece, its effort is not entirely successful.

The plot turns around the interactions of Matthew, played here by John Cauthen, and his wife Lisa, portrayed by Annie Lewis.  Matthew and Lisa are actors in a show directed by Adrian, plausibly played by Miguel Girona.  Matthew believes Lisa and Adrian are having an affair.  Whether that's true and what Matthew does about it is the conflict that is supposed to drive the action. 

In order for the layered plot to work, we need to believe that Matthew is truly tortured by the prospect that his wife might be cheating on him, and that he wants to believe in her fidelity every bit as much as he wants to exact hideous revenge for her betrayal.  Mr. Cauthen gives an energetic performance that does not quite commit to Matthew's neurosis.  Because of that – and because Ms. Lewis and Mr. Girona take a realistic approach to their affair rather than occasionally skewing it to suggest that perhaps we're viewing not a clandestine relationship but merely Matthew's paranoia -- we never really believe that everything we see might just be Matthew's overactive imagination.  As a result, one of the key underpinnings of the play's structure fails.  Mr. Cauthen's diction throughout the show is laudably clear, but his delivery is too even; his modulation and the deliberate pace in which he speaks are largely unchanged regardless of the situation or the mood of the scene.  That sameness prevents him from capitalizing on the opportunities to make us care about his character presented by Matthew's monologues which probe the interaction of love and lies.  Mr. Cauthen is at his best when he lets loose and gives a Will Ferrell-esque moment of outrageous comedy, and the laughs he receives from the appreciative audience during that scene are well-deserved.

For the show to be completely successful, we also need to believe that Lisa possesses strong feelings for both her husband and for Adrian, but Ms. Lewis' performance is devoid of passion.  That is perhaps excusable in her portrayal of Lisa's relationship with her husband – the character does, after all, choose to have an affair suggesting that her marriage is not perfectly satisfying – but because we never believe she is fervently attached to Adrian, her meltdown later in the show lacks context and credibility. 

Ms. Lewis is a striking woman, but the costumes by Tom Hammond do not do her justice; they neither flatter her nor help to portray her character.  In the first scene, when Lisa is supposedly auditioning, she wears a poorly fitting orange dress inexplicably covered by a baggy sweater in a nondescript gray/beige color.  Unless she's hoping to be cast as Yente in Fiddler on the Roof, what actress would attend an audition dressed like that?  Equally incredible is the idea that she would wear a dress of that style for rehearsal.  In the next scene, Ms. Lewis changes into black pants and a sweater twin set which depicts her more as a secretary in a conservative law firm than an actress who commands attention ... and lust.  In short, her costumes do nothing to add to the development of her character, nor are they strange enough to add to the off-beat tone the show tries to create.  Additionally, Ms. Lewis' makeup is much too light, so under the lights she appears washed out and faded when her character is supposed to be seductive and vibrant. 

Mr. Girona gives a credible performance and does his best to generate chemistry with Lisa, with marginal success.  Much of the difficulty is the blocking.  Mr. Girona is noticeably shorter than Ms. Lewis, and by placing the actors close together and face-to-face, director Abigail Schumann creates an awkward exchange whereas if Ms. Lewis was seated with Mr. Girona behind her or to her side, he could more easily caress her and their difference in height would not read as discomfiture.  As it is, the scene is too comedic to be ardent, and too earnest to be funny.

That is not the only cumbersome blocking in this production.  In the initial audition scene, Lisa reads her lines opposite an empty chair.  Ms. Lewis stands directly stage right of the chair, body forward while her head remains almost constantly turned to face the chair.  The lines themselves are uninteresting and are delivered at a measured rate, and because there is no action and no interaction with any other actor, the pace drags.  Similarly, during that scene Ms. Lewis leaves the stage and returns a moment later.  Because the table and chairs are directly center stage, she must traverse the approximately 15' to the wings and back again while nothing else occurs on stage.  We just wait.  Later, the same scene is repeated, this time with Matthew in the empty chair.  Again she leaves and returns.  Again we just wait.  The Theater Babe understands that the directions in the script call for the table to be center stage, but in this particular environment, moving the table closer to the wings would immeasurably improve the pace – as would either creating an exit in the set somewhere other than all the way off stage left or having Ms. Lewis talk as she moves.

Because the pace of this show is very slow, the "surprises" that the script appears designed to create are not at all astonishing.  For example, if the pace was quicker, we might not discern the real identity of Cory – satisfactorily portrayed by Alicia Hainsworth -- until it is deliberately revealed, but here we have plenty of time to suss it out long before we get to the final scenes.  Deirdre Jones gives a pleasing performance as Frank.

The lighting design by Mark Howell is impressive and praiseworthy.  The set is largely bare, using only a few pieces of basic furnishings, and Mr. Howell has creditably used spots and other lighting techniques to differentiate between various locations and periods of time, as well as to suggest an overall ambiance that reinforces the asymmetry of the plot. 

The Theater Babe understands exactly how much work a play this complex requires and commends the cast and crew for undertaking something so difficult.  According to the back of the program, Panglossian Productions markets itself as a "theatre company dedicated to creating new and semi-crazy artistic ventures" and it is easy to see how Private Eyes fits into that mission.  As pure entertainment, this show is not entirely successful because it is not sufficiently off-kilter to be artistic in the fashion of, say, Waiting for Godot, and it is not straight enough – and the script itself is often too contrived – for realism.  If you're interested in theatre as a creative attempt at something non-traditional, however, the flaws of this production can be overlooked in appreciation of its innovation.

Bottom line?  If you're interested in the new and different, take the time and purchase the ticket.  But if you're looking for a traditional theater experience, this just isn't the play for you.

Remaining performances are May 17th and 18th at 7:30 p.m. and May 20th at 2:00 p.m.

at the Williamsburg Library Theatre

515 Scotland Street, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185

Tickets are $16/adult, $14 for students, seniors and Friends of the Library and

can be obtained by calling the box office at (757) 726-7222 or online at panglossian.org

© 2012 Hampton Roads Theater Babe.  All Rights Reserved.