It's an hysterical premise: Huey Maximilian Bonfigliano is trying to prove his manliness, by wooing back his ex-wife, Janice, who shot his dog and then tried to despatch him in similar fashion. Director Eddie Khalil has taken on John Patrick Shanley's script, for a Tuesday-to-Saturday season at Newtown Theatre, until May 15. Of course, Shanley's comedy isn't only about Italian-American reconciliations, but Venusian-Martian ones. And Shanley's focus on love isn't only about the interpersonal, but the intrapersonal: self-love; confidence; competence. Huey calls upon his seemingly more self-possessed best mate, Aldo, to help him through his romantic angst. They agree on a plan: Huey will head straight down to the cafe where his adoring, uncomplicated girlfriend Teresa works, to break up with her, so as to free himself to rekindle his relationship with his ex, who brought him 'heartbreak, screaming, bad food and a dead dog'. Janice, presumably, is a motif for the inscrutable, self-destructive tendencies to which we so easily succumb in relationship. Anyway, It's Aldo's brief to soften Janice up with sweet talk, even though he risks being shot and killed. Meanwhile, Teresa confides to her Aunt May that she plans to break-up with Huey, on account he's not putting in as before. At the same time, Aldo confides his plan to seduce Janice, to protect Huey from getting back with the abuser.
It's all a little confused. But Shanley does manage to portray and grapple with the respective plights of modern men & women through these accentuated characters. Huey & Aldo's mojo is fragile; they're still struggling to understand and communicate with women and clutch at straws more securely than they can define or grasp what it is to be a man. Teresa and Janice are dissatisfied with their lot and are courageously struggling to find independence.
For what gets off on a comedy footing, the play certainly lurches into some pseudo-philosophical, 'd & m' tracts. Indeed, we're left, rather patronisingly, with the thought that 'the greatest and only success is to be able to love'. There's nothing wrong with these expositions but, again, it's all a little disjointed and confused. The writing is accessible, but waxes and wanes a bit. It might be presumptuous to question the work of an Oscar, Tony & Pulitzer prize-winning writer, but so be it.
I wouldn't want to leave the impression this is a bad play, however. Far from it. It's affectionate, humane, empathic and endearing. But, in the end, it's performance-driven and, happily, Khalil has assembled a fine bunch; himself included, as Aldo. In fact, most of the performers have clearly worked hard on their accents, which barely lapse, and deliver nuanced and delightful physical characterisations too. Aldo is well-judged, as we really get a keen sense he isn't the together young man he pretends to be; Charles Billeh is convincing, also, as the neurotic Huey; Romy Teperson is tailor-made for her role as Teresa; Amanda Marsden is in full bloom as Aunt May, while Louise Bartok seems, perhaps, just a little bit out of her element, as Janice. All-in-all, I'd go so far as to say there is more potential in these actors than the script allows them to fully demonstrate. They seem contained, constrained and even frustrated by its limitations and tendencies to develop characters that don't quite ring true or believable.
That said, it's an independent production of a very high standard overall and certainly deserves the audience it's not getting; or wasn't the (Friday) night I was there, where I was, I think, one of only four actual patrons. And, as a critic, I don't even count. It's hard to psychoanalyse and secure fickle Sydney audiences sometimes. Which will come as no consolation to the cast and crew that's put in the hard yards to stage an excellent reading of a good, if not great, play.
To pull out performances of this calibre under such circumstances takes, I'm sure, an almost unimaginable quotient of grit. Even though the fourth wall comes tumbling down on Aldo's entry, when he asks 'how you doin'?' of members of the audience, the atmosphere and responsiveness this play demands can't be delivered by a handful of self-conscious individuals, unnnerved by sheer lack of companionship. There's an obvious intention for the wall to be laid completely bare, so the lack of an opportunity to work the crowd changes the whole momentum and intention of the work. If there was an award for valourous performances in the face of empty seats, this cast should get it. I felt for them.
The all-in-one set has been well-conceived and constructed to evoke that never-quite-real slice of Italian-American life, which exists somewhere in the virtual space between actuality, film and myth. This is enhanced with costume and a grab or two from a Sinatra song. It's all very romantically idealised, which makes for a tense counterpoint with the struggles of the characters on stage; to find love, and themselves.
The allusion to a garret-type studio existence in Huey's claustrophobic apartment puts him neatly in the mad space formerly occupied by the likes of Van Gogh, or Dylan Thomas. Yet Huey is neither of these; more just a would-be Romeo and self-indulgent neurotic. A lovable one but. Superb stage management ensures undetectable transitions and we're seamlessly absorbed into each new scene. Lighting and sound design is equally up to scratch.
There's a piquant balcony scene that references Romeo & Juliet, Cyrano and maybe even, obliquely, Rapunzel. But as in other scenes and setups, the romantic potential is almost cruelly mocked & satirised and at every turn any momentum of that nature is dashed. It's a case of coitus interruptus, in the earliest possible stages. I think Shanley is saying, 'ah well, life's like that'. In that sense, this play won't suit those who secretly or openly favour resolution, sunsets or happy trails.
There are some quite dark reflections in the course of these characters intense wrestles to reconcile the romance they've gleaned from their Italian heritage, reinforced by American film, television and song, with the changing nature of gender roles and dramatic divergence between traditional & contemporary scripts for such.
In the end, it's Shanley's robust, provocative, sympathetic meditation on the difficulties of playing finders keepers in love; the conundrum of relationships, with oneself and others, that noone warns us about; a battle not just of the sexes, but within individuals; a dialectic of expectations often at odds.
If you liked, or loved, the 1987 film Moonstruck (which Shanley also wrote), featuring the unlikely but incredibly successful pairing of Cher & Nicholas Cage, you'll like, or love, this play. Moonstruck used the opera as a focal point and metaphor for the melodrama often present in everyday life and it's interesting that there is an operatic quality to I-AR.
Edison Kane Productions presents
Italian American Reconciliation
by John Patrick Shanley
Director Eddie Khalil
Venue: Newtown Theatre | Cnr of King & Bray Sts, Newtown
Dates: Tue 20 Apr to Sat 15 May, 2010
Times: Tue - Sat 8pm
Tickets: $22.00 to $28.00
Visit: www.newtowntheatre.com.au
