{"id":17231,"date":"2015-04-02T19:35:24","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T02:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=17231"},"modified":"2015-04-03T04:09:32","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T11:09:32","slug":"sister-play-at-magic-theatre-offers-laughs-long-toenails-mayhem-and-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/sister-play-at-magic-theatre-offers-laughs-long-toenails-mayhem-and-love\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Sister Play’ at Magic Theatre offers laughs, long toenails, mayhem and love"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Woody’s [rating: 5]<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No one plays board games in the new comedic drama, \u201cSister Play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lilly (Jessi Campbell, right) demands love from her older sister, Anna (Lisa Brescia), in \u201cSister Play.\u201d Photo by Jennifer Reiley.<\/p><\/div>\n

And there\u2019s no jump rope.<\/p>\n

Repartee is the main pastime adult sisters Anna and Lilly engage in, alternating clever lines that guarantee Magic Theatre audiences will laugh loud and long.<\/p>\n

Playful, zigzagging yet revealing soliloquies also flow from the mind of writer-director John Kolvenbach to the mouths of the siblings.<\/p>\n

The same is true for two other off-kilter characters, Malcolm (Anna\u2019s wooly-headed husband), and William Casy, a enigmatic drifter from Texas whom Lily picks up from the side of a Cape Cod highway.<\/p>\n

All their monologues seem to begin with logic but end in amusing morasses of fractured philosophy and religion.<\/p>\n

In between?<\/p>\n

Non-sequiturs. Hyperbole. Near-gibberish that sounds poetic.<\/p>\n

The setting is a rundown cabin to which we\u2019re introduced when Malcolm thinks aloud: \u201cWhat percentage of this place is mold, do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n

But the key question is if family fortresses and defenders can be over-protective.<\/p>\n

I unconditionally loved Kolvenbach\u2019s character-driven play.<\/p>\n

I loved how all four intimately intertwined \u2014 and how so much of the human condition unraveled so quickly.<\/p>\n

I loved how long toenails and a foot fetish, towels and the singing of a Roy Orbison tune, \u201cBlue Bayou,\u201d became comic foils.<\/p>\n

But always I could sense an underlying seriousness.<\/p>\n

Such as an early metaphoric foreshadowing when frantic, Lilly (wondrously fleshed out by Jessi Campbell) insisted that Anna (played with steely older-sister determination by Lisa Brescia) put her total weight on Lilly\u2019s lap.<\/p>\n

Such as later discussions of getting pregnant.<\/p>\n

Such as the funny asides and mental meanderings of Malcolm (through the artistry of Anthony Fusco, a Richard Jenkins lookalike and soundalike who\u2019s an A.C.T. stalwart), and the marvelous deadpan drawl of Patrick Kelly Jones as William.<\/p>\n

Whether the dialogue was rib-ticking or solemn, I couldn\u2019t wait to find out what came next.<\/p>\n

Now and then, though, I was faced with pithy character summaries.<\/p>\n

I can still hear 30-year-old bed-hopping Lilly saying, \u201cI have no idea what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Anna griping to her late, lamented father, \u201cYou left me holding the bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Add to those Malcolm\u2019s assertion that \u201cI\u2019m a pamphlet between two related tomes\u2026written in a language I don\u2019t understand\u2026two books telling one story.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this poignant couplet: Anna \u2014 \u201cYou seem lost.\u201d Lily \u2014 \u201cI am.\u201d When this goes to two lines it is hard to follow.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s artistic director, Loretta Greco, showed great perceptiveness when indicating in the program guide that Kolvenbach\u2019s characters here, as usual, \u201cbinge on mayhem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of his skillfully crafted chaos was psychological (probing constructive love vs. smothering love).<\/p>\n

Some was tangible (therapeutic book-throwing).<\/p>\n

In either case, Kolvenbach\u2019s timing \u2014 and each actor\u2019s, in fact \u2014 must be labeled exquisite.<\/p>\n

Magic devotees were probably already familiar with the playwright\u2019s talent, because Kolvenbach\u2019s \u201cGoldfish\u201d and \u201cMrs. Whitney\u201d were staged there in 2009.<\/p>\n

Yet \u201cSister Play\u201d proves that even a basically flawless show can\u2019t satisfy everyone.<\/p>\n

One elderly woman, after telling me during the opening night\u2019s post-play reception that the acting had been excellent, twice added, \u201cI don\u2019t understand what was funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than be rude, I left my response unsaid:<\/p>\n

“In my opinion, almost everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSister Play\u201d runs through April 19 at the Magic Theatre, Building D, Fort Mason Center, Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street, San Francisco. Night performances Tuesdays, 7 p.m.; Wednesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m. Matinees, Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Tickets: $20 to $60. Information: www.magictheatre.org<\/a> or (415) 441-8822.<\/em><\/p>\n

Contact Woody Weingarten at voodee@sbcglobal.net<\/a> or check out his blog at www.vitalitypress.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Woody’s [rating: 5] No one plays board games in the new comedic drama, \u201cSister Play.\u201d And there\u2019s no jump rope. Repartee is the main pastime adult sisters Anna and Lilly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"