|
Regional Reviews: Minneapolis/St. Paul H2O Also see Arty's reviews of The Gospel of Lovingkindness and Juno and the Paycock
H2O depicts the relationship between two very different individuals. Deborah is an actor and born-again Christian, determined to prove to her church community—which includes her father—that she can apply work in the theater to serve the lord. Jake is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, an alcoholic, and all-around lost soul who attained super star status by virtue of being plucked from anonymity into the starring role in a series of action movies. Jake looks cynically upon his fame—the more so because his character, though heroic, speaks not a word. In an attempt to be taken seriously as an actor, Jake uses his wealth and connections to mount and star in a Broadway production of Hamlet. Deborah and Jake meet when she arrives to audition for him. She is shocked to encounter him a bloodied, staggering mess who has just slit his wrists. She calls 911 and Jake's life is saved. His physical life, that is. Jake sees in Deborah a steadfast rock, not a vaporous celebrity, who can anchor him long enough to succeed as the Danish prince. Deborah at first resists Jake's entreaties, but she finally accepts both the role of Ophelia and the task of reining in Jake's spiritual life from the abyss. What follows is a duel of wills: he pleading for Deborah's support, then undermining every effort, often in ways that seem calculated to be hurtful. She recoils from Jake's volatile and sometimes threatening behavior, then relents as Christian duty prompts her to forgiveness. Or perhaps it's that she doesn't want to lose the long-sought career boost of appearing in this high profile production. Each has forged a life based on an absolute belief, to which they are chained. Deborah's belief is in her interactive relationship with Jesus in which God speaks to her, and that her piety is its own reward, even when she cracks wise about it, such as this, on the phone to her father: "I am 26 years old and a virgin. I have far too much experience keeping my legs crossed." Jake's belief is that nothing about him has any value; if others see value in his work, that simply validates his cynical view that the entire world is meaningless. He would like things to be different—he asks Deborah "How does Jesus make order out of all the chaos?"—but her belief system is so far from his, requiring such an enormous leap of faith, that it offers him nothing, at least nothing he can make use of. Jane Martin (the prolific and mysterious playwright who has never been seen or given an interview, and is generally considered to be a pseudonym for another writer or director) has done a skillful job of batting an emotional shuttlecock between these two disparate characters, with the audience straining to keep up with who has control of the game, and where the next thrust will land. We are kept wondering if these two will finally land on common ground, and if so, how it will happen. If the end does not resolve their psychic duel, it does maintain the integrity of both Jake and Deborah's characters. Peter Christian Hansen (Hansen is also Gremlin Theatre's Artistic Director) brings Jake fully to life. He is by turns charming, scornful, funny, despicable, juvenile, nasty, pathetic, seductive ... and all the while lost. He completely projects the lack of any mooring that gives him a place in the world. He makes Jake's inability to harbor any good will toward himself both heartbreaking and infuriating. Ashley Rose Montondo gives an equally strong portrayal as Deborah. She convincingly portrays her devotion to faith, able to cast any deviation as a part of a larger plan of service to God. Fleetingly we see cracks, brief fissures of doubt, but in a split second she pulls her bearings in, like a sneeze suppressed, and the seamless face of faith returns. She is also very good in her brief scenes as Ophelia. Perhaps a role in Hamlet is in Ms. Montondo's future. While H2Ohas only two characters, an ensemble of four, called "the Essentials" in the program, frequently enter and leave the stage, assisting with scene and costume changes, and on occasion as extras, becoming a cocktail server or Hamlet cast member. Far more than stage hands, their presence serves as a reminder of the necessary larger world with which Deborah and Jake must engage. The play makes use of the full Theater Garage stage, without the backdrop usually used to separate the playing area from backstage. Director Ellen Fenster gives the play, performed without intermission, constant movement and easy flow, with characters speaking through scene transitions. Sometimes the action is almost to the back wall of the stage, other times at the edge, bordering the first row of the audience. The effect is one of giving larger life to the claustrophobic relationship that develops between Jake and Deborah. Simple doorframes, chairs, bistro tables, hospital beds, and other objects are brought in and out to create various locales. The creative team does a solid job all around, Cole Bylander has designed an especially fetching costume for Jake to wear as Prince Hamlet. The meaning of the play's title remains a mystery, with some ideas, but no certainty as to what playwright Martin had in mind. Perhaps it simply refers to water, which is central to a scene where Deborah cajoles Jake into being baptized in a restaurant fish pond, then resurfaces dramatically in the play's final scene. Water as a vehicle for rebirth, for starting life anew, cleansed of past sin. Maybe. Then again, H2O might be shorthand for Hamlet to Ophelia, those two characters both driven to tragic ends, one done in by uncertainty and absence of belief, the other by the betrayal of all she believes. Possibly. Whatever the title may signify, the story of two people with diametrically opposite perspectives on life, struggling to connect, to both give to and take from the other, is an interesting take on polarization in the way we live. It parallels the political landscape, where both sides speak of working together, finding common ground, but in fact, neither side is capable of relinquishing their own position, even when there is clear benefit to doing so. Just like debauched Jake and devout Deborah. The questions raised, and especially the two outstanding performances, make H2O a rewarding theater experience. H2O continues through June 27, 2015, the Minneapolis Theatre Garage, 711 W. Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN. Tickets —General admission, $25.00. Premium reserved seating: $30.00. Seniors and Fringe button holders pay $22.00. Under 30, pay half your age for any performance. For tickets go to gremlin-theatre.org, or call 1-888-71-TICKETS. Writer: Jane Martin; Director: Ellen Fenster; Technical Director, Set and Lighting Design: Carl Schoenborn; Costume Design: Cole Bylander; Sound Design: Katherine Horowitz; Prop Design: Sarah Bauer; Lighting and Production Intern: Emmet Kowler; Producer: Peter Christian Hansen Cast: Peter Christian Hansen (Jake), Ashley Rose Montondo (Deborah), The Essentials: Sulia Altenberg, Brian Coffin, Diana Jurand and Annie Schiferl
|
