Stray Dog Hearts
Written by Padraic O’Reilly
Directed by Jennifer Gelfer
Velocity Theatre Company (www.velocitytheatre.org)
Midtown International Theatre Festival (www.midtownfestival.org)
Workshop Theater MainStage, 312 West 36th
Street, 4th floor
Equity showcase (through August 5, 2007)
Review by Maura O’Brien
Padraic O’Reilly’s new work, Stray Dog Hearts, currently a part of the Midtown International
Theater Festival, is more of a philosophical treatise on the status of art than
a play. With language more clever than his characters, and metaphors more
significant than plot, O’Reilly manipulates the elements of a comedy to present
an example of art selling itself out. Although this
sounds distressingly cynical, O’Reilly’s “high concept carnival” is charmingly
chaotic, and an engaging formal experiment.
The setting for this meditation on independent art is a
publisher’s office on the verge of a sale to an Australian corporate giant
named Rollocrush (a likely parallel to the real-life behemoth leader of News
Corporation). At first light, Stray Dog Hearts strikes the viewer with its display of office
tedium: the booming boss, the squeaky, naïve secretary, and the reliably
unreliable coworker. Their daily drama is set against the backdrop of a familiarly
drab interior—the set cleverly features one opaque parallelogram that allows
light from the unseen world beyond.
The office belongs to Brodsky, a romantic played with un-ironic enthusiasm by Marc Santa Maria. Santa Maria’s wide-eyed expression and confident
voice convey the sad complexity of a man too honest to succeed, and too
idealistic to make sense in a "prehistoric millennium.” Assisting Brodsky
is the similarly wistful Brianna (Rainbow
Dickerson), who is about to become a single mother. Their more cynical
colleague Lila (Kimberly Bailey) skulks
about the office, often drunkenly, telling the others that they are living in a
moment that evokes the ruthless time when animals ruled the earth. Lila’s
explanation is the start of an extended allegory involving animals, and such
observations make her the most entertaining and insightful character. She is
the lovely, but disheveled and unruly stray dog that roams in search of love or
meaning. Bailey exaggerates Lila’s “freakishness” to produce some of the play’s
more hilarious moments. Though she is a total mess, her compositions are
affecting.
In the midst of the drama of the takeover, a strange dwarf,
with no purpose and no identity, shows up in the office’s waiting room. Playing the harbinger of some vague and unidentified
apocalypse, Stephen Jutras is
perfectly impish. Though his appearance is initially perceived as a threat, the
“waiter” is calm and patient throughout. Jutras neatly balances his benevolent
qualities with an omnipresent, all-knowing smirk. While the rest of the
characters shout in many harried ways, he is confident and nowhere near as
freakish as the chaos around him.
Jennifer Gelfer’s direction
ingeniously moves the chaotic action around a fixed pillar, an architectural
piece that in its solidness reminds the audience of how much movement occurs.
The actors constantly flow into and out of doors, which underscores some of the
philosophical observations of the play.
The presence of the dwarf
encourages the characters to deal with existential questions and to bend the
stranger’s ear, delving into the problems that their idealism and passion have
caused. Their attempts to understand his presence parallel their copywriting
assignment: to define the subject of a Velazquez painting, who happens to be a
dwarf. They stare at the freak in the frame and try to make sense, and we stare
at them and their freakishness, trying to do the same.
Once the small company is taken
over the identity of the “waiter” is revealed. It is an unsatisfying answer to
what had been a tantalizing mystery, but perhaps this is the point. Lacking the
mysterious object at which to gaze, or the strange figure to understand, the
piece of art loses meaning and power. While the characters perceive that they
are moving from light to dark, depressed to happy, failures to successes, in
their willingness to sell out they bring the play to its least natural and most
senseless conclusion—the stray dog has rolled over. While this reinforces
O’Reilly’s point that corporations are deadening enterprises, it still makes for
a dull conclusion. Thankfully, the post-takeover action is limited, and the
play ends shortly thereafter.
Though the actors offer their best
energetic portraits as ideas and archetypes, the play is almost too clever for
its own good—the larger idea is more compelling than the action on stage, and
the theatrical experience isn’t totally satisfying. However, Mr. O’Reilly’s
play is still an intriguing example of a way to avoid Aussification…er, ossification.
Writing: 2
Directing: 2
Acting: 2
Sets: 1
Costumes: 1
Lighting/Sound: 1.5
Copyright 2007 Maura O’Brien
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