And God Is A Stoned Woman In The Booth

I have to admit to being less than enthusiastic about's going to see the Renaissance Theaterworks new show. Not that I don't appreciate Renaissance Theaterworks. They do really consistently great work. They're the latest show, however, is The Understudy. It's a play about the theater. All art is ultimately self-referential, but it gets kind of nauseating seeing theatre longingly look at itself in the mirror. It just seems as so want so much to want to be itself. And it already is. So there's a kind of a narcissism there. It's awkward. That being said, the stage is a really good metaphor. And in the right circumstances under the direction of the right people it can be a really interesting exploration into itself.

The Understudy is a contemporary comedy by Theresa Rebeck. Two actors interact during a  rehearsal. One of them is an understudy. They're going through this play--this show that's debuting on Broadway. A lost piece by Franz Kafka. The play consists of two guys and a stage manager. There is a fourth character. She only appears onstage in the form of the stage itself. Lights and sound and things.

Unbeknownst to the stage manager, the understudy turns out to be her ex fiancé. Suffice to say things aren't too terribly good between the two of them. And then there's the actor is actually in the production. (In the regular cast.) He's a big-name Hollywood screen actor who does mindless action films. He wants to do something with a bit more substance to it than a big, stupid actioner. At first the understudy and the Hollywood film actor aren't all that friendly. The course of events of the play bring them closer together. There is mutual respect. And then there is a stage manager who is merely trying to get through things.

Where the comedy seems to want to be insightful, it is not. The more obvious thematic explorations that the script seems to be embarking on are pretty obvious. As is much of the comedy. Where the play exceeds here is in constructing three characters who are very sympathetically drawn. Thanks to fun trio of actors with Renaissance, they are enjoyable to hang out with. The really remarkable thing here is that director Mallory Metoxen manages to deliver an atmosphere that convincingly delvers the feeling of three people at work without compromising an overall feeling of fun. 

Not that the production's achievements rest solely outside of the deeper metaphors of theater--quite the contrary. The deeper meaning is much more impressive where the script isn't trying to hard to render them. For me the most enjoyable thing about this play was the character that you don't see. She is the woman in the tech booth. She is characterized as being a stoner. She is quite possibly stoned at the time of the rehearsal. She is played by no actress. She doesn't exist onstage the way the rest of them do. She is a force of nature. She's very much present onstage. We see the set move--hear the sounds and see the light. On this stage she's a disinterested god--not really paying attention to the fact that people's lives are playing out on this stage that is merely a rehearsal that might as well be life itself. It's in this character--this disinterested woman in the booth that the play draws its most interesting strength. She doesn't have any lines, but she's this powerful and completely disinterested force onstage. It would be really, really difficult to come up with a better way to characterize god. 

Okay, I'm being disingenuous here--there are actual actors here and they do a good job of playing actors. As mentioned before, they are a lot of fun. Cassandra Bissell plays a stage manager having the day from hell. We sympathize with her and we have fun doing it because she's a very charismatic stage presence. Without overly mugging or exaggerating, she's giving us every impression of someone who is impossibly exhausted AND fun to be around when she's annoyed. Kind of a difficult balance to manage, but Bissell is really fun to hang out with for this particular rehearsal. 

It's very difficult to pretend to be fictitiously famous. Either you're staggeringly recognizable or you're nor. Phillip Sletteland manages as best he can in the role of the Hollywood action celebrity. He actually kind of looks the part. Kind of reminded me of an American Jason Statham. The challenge here was to play an actor playing Kafka who is good at being an action star, but not necessarily as good as he wants to be at rendering complex drama. It's an impossible balance to master, but at least Sletteland manages to be kind of funny playing an action star playing a Kafka character. That's actually kind of fun to watch even though the subtlety of it seems just barely out of reach to Sletteland, he's clearly working at capturing it enough to get a laugh and that's what's important. 

Ken Williams is a lot of fun here too. I would hazard a guess to say that there are very few actors who wouldn't freely connect with this particular character--that of the understudy himself, It must be a really fun role to play, but that being said, it can't be easy to play another actor without seeming overly exaggerated. Williams does not excellent job of it. He makes the character human. He makes the character playful. He is, after all, an actor will probably never see the stage in this particular production that he is rehearsing for. Williams manages that tricky challenge of being playful and irresponsible without coming across as being a jerk. Considering he's the title character here, that's really, really important and Williams nails it. 

But as good as Williams was, I still think my favorite character here is stoned in the booth--forever unseen. I love that she's up there even though I know she isn't. It's a really clever bit on the part of playwright Theresa Rebeck. 

Renaissance Theaterworks' production of The  Understudy runs through February 9th at the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre. For ticket reservations, call  414-291-7800 or visit Renaissance online.