6-6-08
Great Acting, Weak Script, No Surprises in Taste of Honey
In the 1950s a movement began in English theatre that focused on the lives of ordinary people. At the vanguard was Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop. One of her most famous productions was a new play by a young writer, Shelagh Delaney. This 18-year-old achieved her greatest success in Littlewood’s production of A Taste of Honey.
It’s easy to see a young writer’s flaws in Delaney’s work. The characters are predictable, rarely deviating from type. There are no real surprises, unless you expect Helen and Jo’s dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship to resolve into a happy ending. Helen’s chosen a destructive path for her life and Jo’s quick to emulate it, regardless of her disdain for her mother. But despite the story’s predictability, there’s no doubt Delaney knows how to write authentic dialogue and believable people.
And it’s no surprise that Shattered Globe—known for their actor-driven takes on classic 20th century plays—would be drawn to this play. The main attraction of Jeremy Wechsler’s production lies in the performances. Helen Sadler, as the mercurial Jo, keeps her character interesting even when Jo descends into whining against her fate for much of the second act. Linda Rieter’s Helen is clearly a woman who’s been down the marriage road one time too many, yet still has the temerity to hope this final time will be different. The three men in their lives—Bryson Engelen’s compassionate Boy who breaks Jo’s heart; Jeremy Van Meter’s abrasive Peter and Kevin Viol’s put-upon Geof—each have their moments, although they mainly exist as foils.
The women carry the production as far as it can go. But it’s not enough to transcend the weaknesses of the play. All we can do is cheer Jo’s attempts to break the pattern her mother has set, even if we don’t expect her to succeed. At least we get to enjoy some fine acting along the way.
A Taste of Honey, Shattered Globe Theatre
Chris Jones, Tribune—“[A]t Jeremy Wechsler’s movingly acted revival for the Shattered Globe Theatre, I guarantee your heart will be engaged… I didn’t feel that Wechsler’s production of this lengthy, single-set drama fully committed to the realism of the piece. The squalor of the apartment isn’t realized or true to place and period, some of the accents are wobbly and the sheer desperation of the circumstances isn’t fully evoked. This isn’t a production that embraces you by sight, smell and intensity, as would ideally be the case and as Shattered Globe has achieved before. But you are still getting a superbly acted version of one of most important English plays of the 20th Century.”
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“The British-bred Sadler (who has true star quality) and Reiter (a proven powerhouse) are extraordinary, and their poisonous interplay is brilliantly limned in all its fierce antagonism and yearning. And director Jeremy Wechsler has expertly orchestrated every note in this gorgeous, relentless play. A must-see production.”
Barbara Vitello, Daily Herald—“The chance to watch a pair of highly skilled actresses at the top of their game makes Wechsler’s straightforward, well-crafted production a show worth seeing. Like Shattered Globe’s best work, it’s grounded in the resounding, inherently credible acting of its ensemble. That’s especially true of the well-matched Sadler and Reiter who expertly capture the self-loathing and self-pity of people who may get a taste of honey, but will never savor its sweetness very long.”
Tony Adler, Reader—“There’s lots of charm in this Shattered Globe production of Shelagh Delaney’s 1958 drama. Helen Sadler’s quirkily charming as the feisty, dirt-poor, teenage protagonist, Jo. Bryson Engelen’s seductively charming as the young sailor who gets Jo pregnant. Linda Reiter’s abrasively charming as Jo’s hardbitten yet terribly weak, alcoholic mum. Delaney’s script itself charms against all odds as it depicts the grim circumstances of Jo’s life. But eventually that marvelous script steps off into something that can’t be mitigated by charm, and Jeremy Wechsler’s staging fails to follow it there.”
Brian Nemtusak, Time Out—“Thankfully the general unpleasantness is trumped by richly observed dialogue, blasts of giddy gallows humor and the occasional compassionate moment. This is an actor’s play, and under Wechsler’s expert direction, the cast goes to town. As likable monster Helen, Reiter is marvelous, favorably comparable to Deanna Dunagan in August: Osage County. Rising actor Sadler continues her ascent as lost-girl Jo, doing beautifully nuanced, utterly believable work. And Viol’s sly underplaying of the enigmatic Geof keeps stealthy pace with both.”
Be More Chill, Griffin Theatre Company
Nina Metz, Tribune—“Judging by the giddy success of Griffin Theatre’s Be More Chill, currently in a rollicking production directed by Jonathan Berry at the Theatre Building, the premise still has legs. Sometimes everything just comes together in a show—the right script, the right director, the right actors, the right time. At once specific and universal in its depiction of high school, William Massolia’s easygoing script is adapted from the popular, no-holds-barred 2004 novel of the same name by Ned Vizzini. And friends, this is not the Nickelodeon or Disney version of adolescence; kids have sex, do drugs and steal mom’s car.”
Zac Thompson, Reader—“Pygmalion, Faust, science fiction, and the films of John Hughes all come together in William Massolia’s adaptation of Ned Vizzini’s young adult novel, about a nerdy teen who swallows a tiny supercomputer that transmits messages to his brain on how to be cool. Outlandish yet grounded in the harsh realities of high school, Jonathan Berry’s lively production for Griffin Theatre avoids both the corny and the ultra-arch. As the teen, Northwestern undergrad Jake Cohen sweetly conveys the confusions and longings of adolescence.”
Craig Keller, Time Out—“Despite its turgid second act and a storyline telegraphed from start to finish (nutshell: Jeremy learns it’s better to be yourself than act like a dick to win the girl), Chill comes off as above-average fare for urban teen audiences. Though some parents might blanch at the sporadic sex, drugs and profanity, those elements are pretty PG and certainly nothing that Sebastian—the teen I brought to the show, who thoroughly dug it and felt it accurately depicted his world—hadn’t seen before.”
Juno and the Paycock, The Artistic Home
Chris Jones, Tribune—“The Bucket is where you’ll find Frank Nall’s tottering Captain Boyle, Kathy Scambiatterra’s sad-eyed Juno and Mark Ulrich’s cheerfully oblivious Joxer Daly, all living out their days and fighting for some semblance of stability and human dignity. You don’t get directorial pretension, flashy acting and complex visuals here. What you get instead is a dose of ordinary human truth, unleashed by the retelling of one of the great Irish dramas and a story that reminds us that many of our political and social struggles are born when people find themselves cooped up like chickens. This memorably intense and committed production captures O’Casey’s sardonic humor and also his sense of inevitability.”
Jack Helbig, Reader—“Packed with strong characters, terrific dialogue, and twisty plot, Sean O’Casey’s bittersweet 1925 masterpiece is just the kind of play actors like to sink their teeth into—and the love of a fine script is evident in every facet of this production. Kathy Scambiatterra and Frank Nall turn in electrifying performances as the hapless married couple at the center of the story. Still, strong acting alone cannot explain this utterly absorbing, nearly flawless evening. Director John Mossman deserves credit for its multi-layered textures and graceful turns, and for the tightness of his ensemble.”
Christopher Piatt, Time Out—“Again taking on a script that promotes consciousness of the working class, Artistic Home uses selfless, dynamic ensemble playing to create the feeling of ghetto-as-neighborhood. (Darrelyn Marx and Miranda Zola have particularly flavorful cameos as a busybody neighbor and a tragic one, respectively.) In this new space at Live Bait that’s no less snug than the company’s former address, the male performers—playing bruising men for whom whiskey is water—can be a bit severe. But, as always, invaluable Scambiatterra plays a tough-as-a-steel-barge mama whose debt—debt of every kind—might sink her right in front of you.”
Venus Zarris, Gay Chicago—“Director John Mossman executes a deceptively intricate script with complete success. The dramatic movement can turn on a dime from playfulness to tragedy to sweetness and then to rage, but Mossman’s wonderful cast delivers every scene with total truthfulness and never loosens the delicate build in tension. There are many outstanding performances but Kathy Scambiattarra’s Juno holds the family together with commanding focus and intelligence.”
Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Raven Theatre
Nina Metz, Tribune—“If the current revival at the Raven Theatre lacks a certain ?lan, it is not for a lack of trying. The success of the show rests on a collective tolerance for Simon’s brand of humor, which hasn’t always aged well. At least the set design from Ray Toler goes a long way toward setting the scene—with its faux linoleum floor and boxy office furniture—of a writer’s room for a weekly television variety show… The energy is there, although director Michael Menendian perhaps glosses over too much of the underlying hostility that drives the humor.”
Tony Adler, Reader—“The writing team for Sid Caesar’s 1950s variety series, ‘Your Show of Shows,’ included Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, Carl Reiner, and the Simon brothers, Danny and Neil. This is Neil Simon’s fictionalized comic memoir of writing sketches with incipient showbiz legends. The script touches on McCarthyism, skirmishes with NBC network suits, and the eccentricities of the writers and their hopped-up leader, Max Prince. But what ultimately sticks is the constant, competitive, and usually very funny repartee. Michael Menendian’s Raven Theatre production and cast are both sharp.”
Christopher Shea, Time Out—“Director Menendian doles the comedy out in the broad strokes the script demands, with varying results. Several authentically zany ensemble moments, such as the group’s furious reactions to hypochondriacal Ira Stone’s (Jeremy Glickstein) imaginary health scares, have enough energy to keep the audience alert. But Eric Roach’s portrayal of comedic ‘genius’ Max Prince as a cross between caustic Sid Caesar and belligerent Jack Black proves a frenetic, red-faced miscalculation, which captures neither the eccentric wit of the ‘50s nor the iconoclastic irony of today. His fellow actors too often follow suit, straddling an awkward line between slapstick and cynicism.”
Quote of the Fortnight
“Somewhere, someone is probably working on a scholarly dissertation on what I’ve come to think of as ‘the Wacky Nun Phenomenon.’”—Kerry Reid reviewing Marriot Theatre’s production of Nunsense in the Tribune.