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By Tom Fitt
8 Oct 2009 |
Easy Week
I Swear To Tell The Truth
Edward Albee’s intense drama straddles the line between fact and fantasy |
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photo alysa brennan |
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The new production at Hermosa Beach Playhouse has everything a theatergoer would ever want in a play: lies, manipulation, strong language, a failing marriage of two miserable people, even a bit of violence; though most of the pain inflicted is mental.
Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities’ (CLOSBC) first show of the season, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” opens Friday, Oct. 16 (previews begin Wednesday). Playwright Edward Albee read the title phrase written in soap upon a mirror above a urinal in a bar and decided the wordplay on Disney’s “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” to be appropriate to his tale of dysfunctional love.
Speaking of dysfunctional, the reference to Woolf is entirely appropriate. One of the great contributors to early 20th century literature, Woolf was an institutionalized manic depressive, an abused child who, on March 28, 1941, filled her overcoat pockets with rocks, walked into the Ouse River near her home in Sussex, England, and drowned herself. If Andrew Lloyd Webber gets the chance, I’m sure there’s a musical in there somewhere.
In Albee’s Tony Award-winning 1962 play, the four characters he created are most certainly as flawed as the above-mentioned essayist and novelist. Audience members won’t be humming a tune when leaving the theater and the only laughs to be heard will be of the nervous variety. Leave the kiddies at home for this three-act, almost three-hour epic.
The big plus of the show – and the greatest challenge to the actors – is the intelligent and dense writing of Albee.
“It’s just a masterpiece of American theater, so beautifully written that it’s a joy,” director Stephanie Coltrin said.
This is the first time CLOSBC has attempted “Woolf.”
Rattling the ratings
In 1963, the Pulitzer Committee considered the play for an award in drama. The idea was nixed.
“They voted for him to get the Pulitzer, and then decided the play was too risqué, so they wouldn’t give it to him,” Coltrin said. “Actually, a few members of the committee resigned over this decision and, for 1963, no award was given in drama.”
Mike Nichols directed a film of the play in 1966 and encountered similar resistance to the screenplay from the Motion Picture Academy of America (MPAA), especially the word “screw” (which had never before been heard on a motion picture soundtrack) and the phrase “hump the hostess.” Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal and Sandy Dennis starred. Richard and Liz, married at the time of filming, probably didn’t have to do too much acting, given their real-life penchant for public acrimony. Still, the movie won Oscars for Taylor (Best Actress) and Dennis (Best Supporting Actress).
“The film of this play is basically the reason we have a ratings system for movies today,” Coltrin said. “The MPAA had a guideline that basically said they would never give their seal of approval if certain words and certain situations are included in a film. They would actually write films that didn’t include these so they could get the stamp of approval, a sort of it’s-OK-to-go-see kind of thing.
“When Mike Nichols was asked to direct, they talked about how they were going to get around this thing. They asked him to shoot backup scenes with different language, but he refused to do it. Then they got the idea to write to the MPAA and say, ‘What if we say nobody under the age of 18 should see this without parents?’ That was the beginning of our current ratings system.”
Albee has stated on several occasions that the play is his commentary on the day’s rebellious attitude toward the American Dream as applied to the white middle class. He said he wrote the play based on his experiences in the 1950s.
“It’s about this idea of what the American Dream is and what’s actually happening in people’s houses,” Coltrin said.
There’s a line in the play when George rhetorically asks, “Truth and illusion; who knows the difference?”
The setting is the home of George (Matthew Brenher), a college professor, and wife Martha (Suzanne Dean). They are visited after a campus party by the younger professor Nick (Dane Biren) and his wife Honey (Meredith Rensa).
From the time of their first appearance onstage, Nick and Honey have no idea whether the host couple is telling the truth in their elaborate story, or just making things up. The audience faces the same dilemma.
“One of the things that’s interesting about doing this show is, when we’re getting ready to perform it, we have to go through and ask, ‘Is this story true or is it not?’ ” Coltrin said. The story offered by the older couple recounts incidents surrounding the death of their son.
“Some of their story seems like there are elements of truth; that George and Martha exploit the actual details in order to shock Nick and Honey and to manipulate each other,” Coltrin said. “It really is a story about truth and illusion.”
The drunken Honey realizes the reality late in Act III.
How does the script address the fine line between fiction and reality?
“(The truth) is hinted at throughout the play,” Coltrin said. “When Nick and Honey come to the front door, George says to Martha, ‘Don’t bring up the bit,’ and she asks, ‘What bit?’ George: ‘The bit about the kid.’ ”
No easy memorization
As is the case with any presentation lasting almost three hours, the actors have many lines to remember. “There’s a lot of dialogue for four people, but it’s so beautifully crafted that it doesn’t feel like you’re sitting in the audience for nearly three hours because it’s so engaging,” Coltrin said.
Dean (Martha), Brenher (George) and Rensa (Honey) join the interview. Biren (Nick) was unavailable because he was preparing to go onstage at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center in CLOSBC’s production of “Oklahoma,” which closed Oct. 4. None of the three cast members present have ever done “Woolf.”
Matthew Brenher moved from Great Britain to L.A. “nearly four years ago,” and this is his first engagement at CLOSBC. But the enterprising Brit has kept busy in the SoCal sunshine.
“I just finished my first feature film, and I’ve put all my focus into this right now,” Brenher said. “The film is titled ‘Execution.’ They’re talking about probably a January release. It’s not a million-dollar-budget film; it’s a few thousand dollars, low budget. But, I’m excited because it’s my first full-length feature.”
Dean is familiar with CLOSBC and the Hermosa Playhouse.
“I’ve done shows in Hermosa, including Noel Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirits’ last season. Meredith was also in that cast,” she said.
Indeed, Rensa is a CLOSBC veteran.
“Most recently, I did ‘The Reindeer Chronicles’ here last winter,” she said.
Biren (not present at interview) has worked several shows in Redondo and Hermosa for CLOSBC and holds a degree in acting from the California Institute of the Arts.
Cast members responded to a query about how their characters are most affected by the play’s dancing the ever-changing line between fact and fiction.
“George is a creature of that very premise,” Brenher said, “though he seems to have more of a grasp of reality than Martha. He yearns for something. There’s always that paradox that’s within us all. I think human beings are natural fantasists, with some more realistic than others, and I think George is a more realistic creature than Martha.”
Dean concurs: “I agree with that and I think the fantasies are so important to Martha because she’s so dissatisfied with their life and what they’ve created. She seems to get the most enjoyment out of the fantasy. It brings their relationship, which has gone very stale, to life. That’s the way they keep it lively, and it just keeps them alive, basically by creating this other world.”
As for Honey, Rensa said, “I think Honey is more aware of her life than she lets people know that she is. Taking that and adding the alcohol factor, there’s an awful lot of pain … and there’s a lot of pretending happening.
“In terms of the script itself, it’s a challenge to figure out what is reality and what isn’t. George and Martha play so many games with each other, and with me and Nick, that it’s a challenge for us to figure what is true and what is not true. We, as actors, must know what’s true and leave the question to the audience.”
How difficult is it for the cast, in portrayal of the characters, to maintain energy with all the dialogue in a three-hour play?
“It’s extremely difficult,” Dean said. “The dialogue is very dense, very convoluted. The characters switch back and forth constantly, having one conversation, then abruptly switching to another. It’s quite a challenge.”
“The writing is so sophisticated,” Brenher said. “The thing about our present day and age is that people don’t use many words. But, back then, Albee was such an intricate writer that you have to get your brain around all of it (as actor and audience).
“I’m struggling with that right now (less than a week before opening). He writes not the way we think or talk now. That’s my challenge. … And there are things that are unsaid … the words are a mechanism showing how the characters behave with each other.”
“My part is a bit different because I don’t have as many words,” Rensa said. “But I still have to stay with it and also get things across without having very many words. I have to play intoxicated at varying levels throughout the entire show.”
Is it generally exhausting to perform this play?
“VERY exhausting, we drink a lot, go to the bathroom a lot,” said Dean, laughing.
“This is one of the shows you just have to work and work and work in rehearsals,” Coltrin said. “And there’s so much of it, I don’t think you ever feel like you have enough time because the play is so rich. You feel like you attack everything, but you’re spending every moment of the day.”
With all the banter – especially between George and Martha – is perfecting the timing a major undertaking?
“There is a timing issue,” Coltrin said, “but we have very good actors and a lot of it comes naturally. We do work on the timing. In a play this long, there’s a lot of detail work that has to get done.”
If you’ve never seen a play written by Edward Albee, CLOSBC is offering one of the best of this masterful wordsmith. Listen closely, though, because the dialogue comes fast and furiously.
"Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" opens in previews on Wednesday at the Hermosa Beach Playhouse, on the southwest corner of Pacific Coast Hwy and Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach. Opening night is Friday, Oct. 16. Performances, Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees, Oct. 18 and 25, at 2 p.m., plus Sunday evening, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. Tickets, $35 to $45. Valet parking ($5) available Friday through Sunday. (310) 372-4477 or go to hermosabeachplayhouse.com. ER
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