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Regional Reviews: San Francisco A Nifty Production of Nicky Silver's The Lyons Also see Richard's review of Lie of the Mind, Jeanie's review of Venus in Fur, and Patrick's reviews of I Am My Own Wife and The Bat
George is in a private hospital room, dying of cancer and swearing constantly at his wife Rita, but he does have good reason to. She is really not comforting him but harangues him with her acid tongue. They constantly bicker and nag each other. "I'm dying," he reminds her. "Yes I know," she says with somewhat cunning retaliation, "but try to be positive." Lisa the daughter is a not quite recovered alcoholic who is still in love with the husband who beat her and left her. Curtis, a short story writer, gay, and ignored by his father, has some very strange issues. Silver's dialogue among the four is wonderfully piercing and cutting. I have to say this black comedy is passionately complicated and it is a deeply disturbing portrait of a dysfunctional family in disintegration. Much of the first act is outrageously entertaining with the father in bed. The second act finds the bruised analytical Curtis now in the same bed after the father has died. He has a hilarious confrontation with a no-nonsense nurse. The acting in this production is first rate, with each of the actors showing excellent timing. Ellen Ratner is outstanding as the identifiable and superficially lovable Jewish-mother type, even when you start to realize that she is tarnished. Her speech at the end of the play is a tour de force of fantastic acting. Will Marchetti gives a great performance as the foul-mouth father Ben. He comes close to Ratner in balancing the ambiguities of his role. He plays the character tormented and nonchalant with heroic determination. Nicholas Pelczar gives a pitch perfect performance as the cerebral Curtis who is in love with a "phantom." Jessica Bates is excellent as the vicious daughter Lisa. She even shows beautifully the widow's desperate vulnerability. Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe gives a splendid performance as the nurse. She comes into her own with the impressive confrontation with Curtis in the second act. Rounding out the cast is Joe Estlack, who appears only in the first scene of the second act as the realtor Brian and is a key to Curtis' delusions. He gives a splendid performance, showing Curtis' feelings of inadequacy. The Lyons plays through March 8, 2015, at the Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley. For tickets call 510-843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org. Coming up next will be Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly opening at Harry's UpStage, located in the Nell and Jules Dashow Wing of the theatre at 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley. On April 17th the Aurora Theatre will present Lanford Wilson's The Fifth of July in their main theatre through May 17.
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