To no one's surprise, when such narcissists are confronted by a performance which cuts close to home, they fail to see how the joke could be at their expense. In 1936, while working on a new musical entitled Red, Hot, and Blue, Cole Porter wrote a torch song for Ethel Merman entitled "Down in the Depths on the Ninetieth Floor." A song that captures the loneliness of a wealthy woman who feels unloved, it is nowhere as funny as the send-up of Marlene Dietrich that Mel Brooks wrote for 1974's hilarious film, Blazing Saddles.
While many cases of depression can be traced to financial problems or substance abuse, the paralyzing sense of grief triggered by a lost love or the death of a loved one is more difficult to put to music. In 1923, Irving Berlin wrote "What'll I Do?" for his third Music Box Revue. A song whose simplicity belies the gaping void left in someone's life by a lover who has moved on, it has since been recorded by numerous pop artists. In 1935's Porgy and Bess, "My Man's Gone Now" (written by George and Ira Gershwin to be sung by the grieving Serena) captures the character's visceral sense of loss.
Although it's easy to mock depression, it's no fun to live with it. Just as one person's depression can exacerbate the worst kinds of behavior in a dysfunctional family, being forced to live within a dysfunctional family can prolong and intensify a person's depressive state. It's a vicious cycle which feeds off a toxic mix of repressed anger, bitter emotions, hopelessness, and an ongoing sense of helplessness.
While depression may not be fun to live with, it offers plenty of inspiration for writers. By a curious set of circumstances, two small Bay area theatre companies recently presented the world premieres of plays which shine a spotlight on one woman's depression while demonstrating its profound effect on the other members of her family.
* * * * * * * * *
For their 59th world premiere, the folks at Central Works decided to see if they could squeeze some comedy out of the famous trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus more than 2,500 years ago that is now known as The Oresteia. Written, directed, and with lighting designed by co-artistic director, Gary Graves, the company has relocated the action from the accursed and highly dysfunctional House of Atreus to the high desert of Nevada, where an old mansion abuts the junkyard owned and operated by a family business named Palace Wreckers. Graves refers to this four-character play as a "revenge comedy" as he explains that:"Oresteez, a prodigal son of sorts, returns home with his sister, Elektra. Their father has died, and the two estranged siblings want to reunite with their bereft mother. But there’s a new man in the house and Elektra soon begins to suspect it was foul play that put her beloved father in the grave. Elektra wants revenge! What’s our prodigal son to do?"
 |
| Khary Moye is Oresteez in Palace Wreckers (Photo by: Jim Norrena) |
Those familiar with the original Greek tragedy, the 1909 operatic adaptation (Elektra) by Richard Strauss, Eugene O'Neill's 1931 Americanization of the story (Mourning Becomes Electra) and Marvin David Levy's 1967 operatic adaptation of the O'Neill play, will have an especially good time watching Palace Wreckers unfold. As a brief character guide, keep in mind that:
- The modern-day Clytemnestra is named Carla. A bitter widow, deeply grieving the loss of her husband (who died of a heart attack and was buried in his beloved junkyard), Carla has been struggling to keep the family business afloat. Although her phone service has been cut off (probably for lack of payment), she is still filled with rage about the lack of communication with her children and the fact that they were not around to help her when their father died.
- Clytemnestra's deceased husband, Agamemnon, is now referred to as Manny.
- Clytemnestra's lover, Aegisthus, has been renamed Gus. An ex-con who came to work for Palace Wreckers, he has always been grateful to Manny (the only person who would hire him). Gruff, stubborn, and not particularly bright, Gus provides the muscle Carla needs to keep the business running. Whether or not they have become lovers is never clarified, although each time Gus injures himself, she tends to his wounds like a mother.
- The name of Clytemnestra's son, Orestes, is now spelled Oresteez. Ten years ago he could no longer bear the tension between his parents and left home without telling anyone where he was headed. In order to get as far away from the Nevada desert as possible, he enlisted in the Navy and traveled around the world. While in the military, he also acquired some useful skills and contacts. Oresteez recently received training in the installation of solar panels.
- Clytemnestra's daughter, Elektra, is once again spelling her name with a "k" instead of a "c." She now works in one of the bigger hotels in Las Vegas, where she has a job as an executive assistant. In addition to reuniting Carla and Oresteez, her goal is to sell the family property so that her mother can move into a better living situation.
 |
| Khary Moye (Oresteez) and Regina Morones (Elektra) in a scene from Palace Wreckers (Photo by: Jim Norrena) |
As the play begins, Palace Wreckers is facing a deadline to meet a potentially lucrative order of scrap metal but, with only Carla and Gus to do the work, their ability to come through is questionable. Elektra and Oresteez have driven down from Las Vegas for a surprise visit only to discover that their mother wants absolutely nothing to do with them. Carla (who resents Elektra's nice clothes and suspects that she is connected to the mob) remains furious with her son for abandoning her without a clue to his whereabouts.
Carla's children quickly notice that their mother is acting strangely. Strangely enough that they can't help wondering if, instead of dying from a heart attack, their father was murdered and his body put through the junkyard's crushing machine. Gus keeps trying to coax Oresteez into helping him run the junkyard's machinery so that Palace Wreckers can meet its deadline. However, having returned home with a keener business sense, Oresteez understands that scrap metal is no longer a profitable business and should be abandoned as a lost cause.
 |
| John Patrick Moore as Gus in a scene from Palace Wreckers (Photo by: Jim Norrena) |
Oresteez also has a hidden agenda. With some connections he made while traveling, he wants to turn the family's land into a solar farm that could passively earn substantial income by capturing the sun's energy. If Elektra goes ahead with her plan to sell the place, his dream will go up in smoke. Meanwhile, Carla is so angry (and trapped in a last-gasp effort to keep the family business alive) that there is no chance of bargaining with her. The only hope for Oresteez is to convince the strong but clumsy Gus -- who keeps injuring himself and has nowhere else to go -- that solar energy could be the solution to their financial troubles.
Unfortunately, Elektra (who is used to living and working in air-conditioned environments) seems to be coming unglued in the desert heat. As old mother-daughter tensions start to flare, she becomes increasingly suspicious of the relationship between Carla and Gus, and starts wondering if they didn't conspire to murder her father. When Elektra discovers an old sword that is a family heirloom, she's ready to start swinging it at people she doesn't trust.
 |
| Regina Morones as Elektra in a scene from Palace Wreckers (Photo by: Jim Norrena) |
With his usual skill, Graves has written a script that does a fine job of pitting family members against each other while giving them enough zingers to keep the audience laughing. Dominating the play is Jan Zvaifler's unnerving, gorgon-like portrayal of Carla as a dried-up, emotionally weary, and physically exhausted widow who is not about to take any shit from her children.
 |
| Jan Zvaifler as Carla in a scene from Palace Wreckers (Photo by: Jim Norrena) |
While Regina Morones (Elektra) and Khary Moye (Oresteez) try to bring a touch of sanity to the proceedings, Jan Zvaifler (Carla) and John Patrick Moore (Gus) achingly bring the play's juiciest roles to life while heightening its most intense moments. Making the proceedings spookier than one might expect is Gregory Scharpen, whose eerie sound design is like a master class in how to achieve more impact with less noise while doing a splendid job of creeping out the audience.
 |
| Khary Moye (Oresteez) and Regina Morones (Elektra) in a scene from Palace Wreckers (Photo by: Jim Norrena) |
Performances of Palace Wreckers continue through June 10 at the Berkeley City Club (click here for tickets).
* * * * * * * * *
As part of its annual Festival of New Works, PlayGround (in association with Planet Earth Arts) unveiled a new play by Julianne Jigour entitled Bright Shining Sea. Directed by Tracy Ward with a great deal of compassion and humor, the play involves six people whose lives have been affected in various ways by the slow but steady degradation of the environment affecting the Los Angeles Basin. |
| Lisa Morse (Maya) and Aaron Wilton (Brian) in a scene from Bright Shining Sea (Photo by: Mellophoto.com) |
Maya (Lisa Morse) has just suffered her third miscarriage. Deeply depressed, she occasionally retreats to her bathtub to wallow in self-pity (as well as water). The situation has become so bad that her husband, Brian (Aaron Wilton), is moving out of their home as part of a trial separation. When Maya's sister, Eileen (Stacy Ross) comes to visit, Maya keeps pushing her to say the name of the baby that would have become her daughter. When Eileen confesses that she can't remember, Maya erupts in fury.
What she doesn't know is that Eileen is having problems of her own. Lately, she's been so deeply absorbed in her research about ocean acidification that she has become increasingly forgetful. Eileen has left her front door unlocked, forgotten to keep important promises to her daughter, Sylvia (Nicole Apostol Bruno), and is quietly freaking out about what the data she's been reviewing indicates about the future.
 |
| Stacy Ross (Eileen) and Nicole Apostol Bruno (Sylvia) in a scene from Bright Shining Sea (Photo by: Mellophoto.com) |
In order to get some insight into what Maya might be experiencing, Brian sets up an appointment with his wife's former therapist, Wendy (Anne Darragh), who has become so bored and distracted while listening to her patients' complaints that she often nods off during a session. She covers for this by claiming that listening with her eyes closed sometimes helps her to focus more clearly and better hear what a patient is saying. Brian (who is also hoping to find out why he's so afraid to step foot in the ocean) quickly realizes that Wendy is wasting his time. After confronting the therapist about her ineffectiveness, she suggests that what he really needs to do is take swimming lessons.
 |
| Anne Darragh (Wendy) and Aaron Wilton (Brian) in a scene from Bright Shining Sea (Photo by: Mellophoto.com) |
Wendy's life has not exactly been a barrel of laughs in recent years. Still bitter that her husband left her for a younger woman named Tanya, she has had to cope with the unxpected return of her grown son, Paul (Brady Morales-Woolery), a professional fisherman who has seen each catch diminish in size due a combination of overfishing, marine migration, and massive algae blooms caused by global warming. Tempers flare when Paul notices that his mother keeps taking long showers during California's drought and keeps washing her hands like Lady Macbeth. Wendy counters by demanding to know why Paul can't stay with his father instead of depending on her.
 |
| Anne Darragh (Wendy) and Brady Morales-Woolery (Paul) in a scene from Bright Shining Sea (Photo by: Mellophoto.com) |
The situations in these three households keep intensifying until Maya goes to the beach one night and starts walking into the ocean. Luckily, Paul is standing nearby, trying to make sense of her behavior, and rescues her from drowning. When Eileen instinctively starts to worry about her sister, she and Sylvia start driving toward the beach to see if they can find Maya. Unfortunately, Eileen (who recently left one of her stove's burners on while she sat in another room reading) gets lost and, while arguing with Sylvia, collides with a pink pelican.
In addition to becoming more worried about her mother's behavior, Sylvia has been trying to help Brian learn how to swim. The discovery that Eileen is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease makes Sylvia realize that her life will never be the same again. The news is enough of a shock that it snaps Maya out of her depression and helps her face the fact that she is not the only one struggling with an irreparable sense of loss.
With help from Mikiko Uesugi's skeletal scenic units, Brittany Mellerson's lighting, and James Goode's excellent sound design, Tracy Ward has coaxed some memorable performances from her ensemble. While the younger generation (Brady Morales-Woolery as Paul and Nicole Apostol Bruno as Sylvia) try to develop the necessary coping skills to start caring for their mothers, two veteran Bay area actors (Stacy Ross and Anne Darragh) do a splendid job of depicting older women as they struggle to cope with their emotions. Lisa Morse and Aaron Wilton offer deeply conflicted portrayals of a couple in crisis.
 |
| Nicole Apostol Bruno as Sylvia in Bright Shining Sea (Photo by: Mellophoto.com) |
Performances of Bright Shining Sea continue through June 16 at Potrero Stage (click here for tickets).
No comments:
Post a Comment