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Regional Reviews: San Francisco A Compelling Production of Sam Shepard's Also see Richard's review of The Lyons, Jeanie's review of Venus in Fur, and Patrick's reviews of I Am My Own Wife and The Bat
We have yet another dysfunctional family of persons who are either stupid or nasty. Jake has beaten his wife senseless and believes that he has killed her. His brother Frankie leaves the gibbering Jake in the custody of their hard-hearted mother Lorraine and travels to a remote ranch owned by Beth's stupid-nasty parents Baylor and Meg and Beth's stupid-nasty protective brother Mike. So, on the last day of deer season, Baylor sees a shape sneaking through the woods, and he shoots it. Well, it turns out to be Frankie trying to get to the house to make sure that the beaten Beth is still alive. I won't go into what happens in this remote ranch house in the West; you will have to see for yourself. Let's say there are some of the greatest weird scenes I have seen this year. Watching this two hour and forty minute production I was reminded of Tracy Letts' Killer Joe. This is a powerful and outlandish drama and certainly not a comedy, even though you might be provoked into some uneasy laughter. Loretta Greco has chosen an outstanding cast to present this grotesque drama. Jessi Campbell is focused and unswerving in portraying the perplexity of the jumble-brained Beth. It's a terrific performance. Sean San Jose gives a powerful performance as Jake, especially in the opening scenes, and he effectively conveys the recurring sense of the barely contained tension about to blow. He beautifully states, "There's this thing—in my head ... This thing that the next moment—the moment right after this one—will blow up. Explode with a voice. A scream from a voice I don't know." Julia McNeal gives a splendid performance as Meg, Beth's long-suffering, oddly powerful, and weirdly innocent mother. Robert Parsons is wonderful as the bawling Baylor. They keep the long show lively well into the third act with their grand comic salvos as the parents. Catherine Castellanos gives an impressive performance as Lorraine, the tough son-obsessed mother of Jake. Elaina Garrity is pitch perfect as Sally, Jake's sister. Their confrontations are outstanding. Juan Amador is plausibly funny and terrified as Jake's brother Frankie. James Wagner strikes the obligatory straightforward chords as Beth's brother Mike, who can't believe Beth is still in love the violent Jake. He is particularly striking in his transformation from the helpful brother at Beth's to the fatigue-wearing, fanatically revenging, face-painted torturer at the end. Set designer Robert Brill has made a very intimate set for the three-sided theatre. There is a single twin bed on a bare plank floor that is shared by Beth and on another occasion by Jake. The movement of the bed is vital in every scene since it shows the isolation of Beth's struggle with physical and verbal control in a hospital and Jake's intense battle with his own personal demons as he tries to con his relations he doesn't trust. I think the New Yorker says it best: "Sam Shepard is surely the only dramatist alive who could tell a story as sad and frightening as this one and make such a funny play of it without ever skimping on its emotional depth." A Lie of the Mind plays at Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd. Building D, Third Floor, San Francisco through March 1, 2015. For tickets please call the box office at 415-441-8822 or www.magictheatre.org. Coming up next is the world premiere of John Kolvenbach's Sister Play opening on March 25th.
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