[Woody’s [rating: 1]
Starring in “The Way West” are (from left) Anne Darragh (as mom), Kathryn Zdan (Manda) and Rosie Hallett (Meesh). Photo by Ed Smith.
Mom’s body and world are in a race to see which will break down first.
Even her garage is collapsing.
But armed with Paul Bunyanesque tall tales of the American frontier, a ukulele and an endless supply of cockeyed optimism, she’s hell-bent on retaining her pioneer spirit.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work.
Nor does the play in which she’s the main character — the Marin Theatre Company’s “The Way West,” which is meant to be a whimsical but serious look at how a Central Valley family of three copes with the Great Recession.
A lot within the production does work, I concede.
The three main actors — Anne Darragh as mom, Kathryn Zdan as her older daughter, Manda, and Rosie Hallett as the younger, Meesh — are first-rate.
Costuming, set and sound all provide ideal trappings, and director Hayley Finn succeeds in keeping the play hurrying toward its abrupt end.
But original songs by Sam Misner and Meghan Pearl Smith don’t add much beyond a copycat Woody Guthrie folky flavor of the Old West — even though the three principals passably strum and sing.
A terminally shallow script by award-winning playwright Mona Mansour is the main stumbling block.
It attempts to tackle serious topics of financial ruin and homelessness and familial relationships but glosses over them with exaggerated, clichéd situations and forced humor.
“The Way West” is the third play on which the MTC has bestowed its Sky Cooper New American Play Prize. First came Bill Cain’s “9 Circles,” which I called “multi-faceted” and “dazzling.” Next was “The Whale,” which I found “touching.”
I suppose that, as the platitude goes, two out of three ain’t bad.
In “The Way West,” a 62-year-old mother has filed for bankruptcy and isn’t doing well physically. Yet she still stares through rose-colored glasses and embellishes already hard to swallow western mythology.
And hopes her daughters will follow her lead.
The kids, however, also are screwed up — and in deep emotional and fiscal trouble.
Mandy has overextended her credit cards and endangered her job back East by overlooking an obscene typo. Meesh has run into a legal hassle peddling stuff online.
“I always try,” Mansour has been quoted as saying, “to be equal opportunity about how messed up the characters are.”
She does accomplish that in “The Way West.”
But messes up the play in the process.
To be fair, the opening night audience laughed often, and a good deal more than I did.
I found most of the humor juvenile — including dialogue that demanded intentional overacting, and including satirical, melodramatic signs that resembled silent movie title cards.
“We are all in this together — and it’s not good,” one proclaimed.
To me, the line might also apply to performers and audience.
Toward the climax of the play, which at times crosses the fine line between clever and insipid, one character says, “Talking creates hysteria.”
The playwright creates stylized onstage hysteria, however, by having her inventions talk incomprehensively over each other — and panic because of a living room fire.
Having just published a book, I fully recognize what tremendous effort and perseverance goes into completing any creative effort, so I’m hesitant to pan any artist — especially a writer.
Sometimes, though, benevolence must give way to conscientiousness.
This is one of those times.
“The Way West” plays at the Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley, through May 10. Night performances, 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays; 7 p.m. Sundays; 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Saturdays. Matinees, 1 p.m. Thursdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets: $10 to $53. Information: (415) 388-5208 or marintheatre.org.
Contact Woody Weingarten at voodee@sbcglobal.net or http://vitalitypress.com
