ARLINGTON at the Magic Theatre

Directed by Jackson Gay, Arlington is almost a solo show. Featuring Analisa Leaming as Sara Jane and Jeff Pew as piano accompanist and her occasionally speaking husband Jerry, this one hour stream of consciousness telling of Sara Jane’s attempts to remain cheerful while waiting for her soldier husband’s return is performed primarily singing with dips into Sprechstimme and brief patches of spoken monologue and dialogue. With Jeff Pew prominently placed in full view at his grand piano upstage, there is no mistaking his importance in the play as the never forgotten mate whose military judgment hovers over Sara Jane. What is not so clear is the reason why the monologue of wife Sara Jane needs to be sung or how she could just be coming to the realization that war is painful, horrific and deadly for those near or on the battlefield.

Ms. Leaming has a lovely soprano voice and manages to modulate from cheerful innocence to worried concern for her unborn male child with the implied fear that he too could be cannon fodder in a yet to be waged war. Along the way she gets to question the values of her military family, deal with a mother obsessed with facelifts, respond to a husband whose sexual fantasies about her are disquieting, be repeatedly haunted by photos of atrocities her husband has committed against women and children and more.

 Jeff Pew is equally convincing as her husband on the front and as a force that hovers over her that she can’t quite control. His skill as a pianist is exemplary as is his acting talent in the few spoken interjections he has with Sara Jane.  Here the difficulty isn’t with the performing artists themselves as with the material they are given to work with that leaves one wanting more.

 ARLINGTON written by Victor Lodato with Music by Polly Pen continues through December 8 at the Magic Theatre  www.magictheatre.org or 415.441.8822.

UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL at A.C.T.

 Academy Award nominee David Strathairn (Lincoln) easily holds our attention in Glen Berger’s captivating 90 minute solo drama Underneath the Lintel. In what could almost be considered a ghost story, an eccentric librarian finds a weather-beaten book in a return bin—and discovers that it is 113 years overdue. It is still an era where a librarian’s date stamp is his most prized possession. Sparked by a message left in its margins, he sets off on a quest to unravel the secrets of the book and the person who borrowed it. From the hallways of his library, he follows a chain of seemingly insignificant clues that spans the globe and dates back thousands of years. Obsessed with piecing the clues together, he is relieved from his post to follow his insatiable curiosity. With astonishing twists and turns, Underneath the Lintel is a magical piece of storytelling that draws us into an unforgettable odyssey. Strathairn’s riveting performance is like a master class in acting. Energetically performed, his exuberance keeps us captivated as does his vulnerability and comic timing, making this a highlight of story telling that is both emotionally moving and ultimately redemptive as well as entertaining.

Underneath the Lintel directed by Carey Perloff ran through November 23 at A.C.T. 415 Geary Street, SF, CA.

Next up: A Christmas Carol Dec 6-28^th, www.act-sfbay.org

by Linda Ayres-Frederick

 Before the show begins, the lost boy and girls of Never- Never Land ask the audience individually what they did today and then write the answers in chalk on the floor. Dressed in various colored horizontal striped pyjamas, the cast continues this energetic process until the space is as filled with writing as the walls of the theatre are. The lights then dim to begin this stripped to its bare elements version of the familiar tale of a boy who goes back to find his shadow and fly away with the girl who sews it back on to a faraway place “second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning”.

 Custom Made’s Guest Director Jeremy Bloom talks about the show: “I have been developing this project in various incarnations off and on for ten years or so. Technically longer, because the story of Peter Pan pervades our culture and minds even in ways we’re not aware of. I had read J.M. Barrie’s prose version and was newly awakened to the depth of the story and its characters. Though I had seen several productions of the play (most often the musical, but also movies and adaptations like Hook), I realized I hadn’t ever seen a play version that felt as current and exhilarating as it felt to read the book for the first time. While the story is marketed towards children, the book was clearly told from the perspective of an adult who acutely understands how fleeting youth and life are…not in a depressing way, but in a hopeful and lyrical way that just makes you want to run outside and start hugging people which of course we can’t. Peter urges Wendy to think of her happiest thought in the whole world, so that she can fly away. One passage in the book, that I remember not really seeing as a kid, is the heartbreaking journey of the parents left alone in the nursery to mourn the disappearance of their child. I wanted to stage Peter Pan with a ton of heart and to focus on the dynamics of these archetypal characters and strip the play of its iconic costumes and swinging wires, so that we could focus more on the story.

 I first work shopped the play in a garage in Illinois in front of open doors that revealed a giant parking lot complete with a Buick playing the role of the Jolly Roger and lots of major running off into the distance using text from Peter and Wendy as well as sections of The Little White Bird, also by Barrie. Later productions include Walkerspace in Soho Rep ultimately enjoying an extended run this past June at the cell theater in New York.

The Custom Made production incorporates the best discoveries of these various workshops and uses the cast of seven actors who I couldn’t love more. Most of the cast is female, except for Peter Pan, using the minimum number of people – one lost boy, one flower, one mermaid, and so on.

The text speaks so profoundly about imagination, it is only fitting to strip the elements to their simplest using super low-tech and minimal objects at a fast pace. The play is 75 minutes with music throughout and not a single blackout. I hope that this exposes the humanity of the story and the complexity of the characters.”

The ensemble includes: Tinkerbell (Anya Kazimierski), Hook & Mr. Darling (Terry Bamberger), Mrs Darling/Smee (Kim Saunders), Peter (Sam Bertken), Wendy (Elissa Beth Stebbins), A Tiger Lilly (Jessica Jade Rudholm) and  A Lost Boy/A Mermaid (Jeunee Simon) performing on Joshua Saulpaw’s and Nicola McCarthy’s multilevel Set with Lighting by Colin Johnson and Sound Design by Liz Ryder.

 Peter/Wendy plays Thurs-Sat at 8pm. Sun 7pm through Dec 15 at Gough Street Playhouse, 1620 Gough Street (at Bush), SF, CA 94109 www.custommade.org

 Next at Custom Made: The Pain and The Itch by Bruce Norris directed by Dale Albright Jan 10-Feb 9, 2014.

by Linda Ayres-Frederick