Frankie (Juan Amador) listens to Beth (Jessi Campbell) as Baylor (Robert Parsons) looks on.(Photo by Jennifer Reiley)
A Lie of the Mind: Drama. By Sam Shepard. Directed by Loretta Greco. Magic Theatre, Building D, Fort Mason Center, S.F. Two hours 50 minutes. (415) 441-8822 or www.magictheatre.org
A Lie of the Mind is a long night’s journey at the Magic Theatre [rating:3]
Extended through March 14, 2015
Once again 24 hours separated an evening of fun and an evening of intense drama with nary a separation of two miles between the two theatres. Wednesday the national tour of the musical Newsies at the Orpheum left the audience with warm feelings as they gave the production a standing ovation. The next night an exceptionally fine staging of Magic Theatre’s local production of Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind led some of the audience to leave at intermission. It was not an unexpected situation at the Magic that seems to stage plays involving dysfunctional families.
Sam Shepard who honed his art as playwright-in-residence for 10 years (1974-1984) at the Magic is known for his portrayal of dysfunctional families. In doing so he has earned honors heaped on honors with his plays and Buried Child earned the 1978 Pulitzer Prize. That play has received stunning staging by A.C.T and the Magic. The present production of Lie of the Mind has never been produced in the Bay Area and can be recommended for its historical relationship to the Shepard’s development as a writer and as an example of Lorretta Greco’s directorial skills. It has been suggested it is the final chapter of Curse of the Starving Class (1976), Buried Child (1979), True West (1980), and Fool for Love (1983) that are semi-autobiographical with the male characters dominating. Although the action of the male characters In A Lie of the Mind are the causation of events, his female characters take center stage and are given almost equal status as the males.
The story involves two dysfunctional families, separated by miles but tied together by marriage. Jake, his brother Frankie, sister Sally and their mother Lorraine live in a Western State. Jake’s wife Beth is from a North Dakota family that includes a mother Meg, a father Baylor and a brother Mike. Their abstruse relationships are gradually defined though Shepard’s mastery of dialog and action creating fully rounded individuals but ends with more questions than answers.
The play begins and ends with violence and is filled with intense situations that are gut-wrenching but at times somehow garner stifled laughs from the audience. Those moments are few. What can one expect when the opening scene is a telephone call between brothers Jake and Frankie where hyper-manic Jake is confessing his near fatal beating of his wife Beth and a second hospital scene of brain-damaged Beth being consoled by her brother Mike?
Shepard is a master at developing bits of information combined with physicality to create fully rounded characters but he is not above using exposition in the guise of ordinary conversation to unravel past actions that defines personality. A specific scene that defines the true relationship between the manic Jake and his deceased drunken father is one of those lapses in the plays construction. This may be due to the fact that he gives those specific lines to Jakes young sister Sally (Elaina Garrity) and it does not carry the horrific nature of a past event that leads to a momentous decision by mother Lorraine (a marvelous Catherine Castellanos) and Sally to abandon the family home.
Jessi Campbell gives a Tony Award winning type of performance as the brain damaged Beth and you will find yourself trying to help her find the words buried in the prison of her mind. Sean San Jose gives a histrionic patina to his performance as Jake just as Shepard has suggested in his stage directions. (Shepard directed the original production). You can feel the mental and physical pain tinged with loyalty of Jake’s younger brother Frankie in Juan Amador’s performance. James Wagner’s transition as Beth’s concerned and protective brother Mike to an unbalanced deer hunter seems artificial even if Shepard had intended the dichotomy. Robert Parsons and Julia McNeal as the parents of Beth and Mike do a superbly believable job of displaying the attributes written into their characters.
This three act play as suggested by the author has complicated scene changes and may be one reason it has not had many productions. Director Greco has wisely simplified the staging and the scenes flow smoothly even when the action is hectic. Original music written and performed by Nicholas Aives and Jason Cirimele is used as bridges between scenes, underscores monologs and opens and closes each act. Running time 2 hours and 50 minutes with one intermission.
CAST: Juan Amador (Frankie); Jessi Campbell (Beth); Catherine Castellanos (Lorraine); Julia McNeal (Meg); Robert Parsons (Baylor); Sean San Jose (Jake); James Wagner (Mike); Elaina Garrity (Sally).
CREATIVE TEAM: Director, Loretta Greco; Set Design, Robert Brill; Costume Design, Alex Jaeger; Lighting Design, Burke Brown; Sound Design, Sara Huddleston; Stage Manager, Karen Szpaller; Dramaturg, Jane Ann Crum; Vocal Coach, Deborah Sussel; Fight Director, Dave Maier; Director of Production, Sara Huddleston; Technical Director, Dave Gardner; Props Design, Jacquelyn Scott; Local Casting,Dori Jacob and Ryan Guzzo Purcell; Original Music Composed and Played by Nicholas Aives and Jason Cirimele
Kedar K. Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com
