NogoodDeed

NogoodDeed

That the current Inside the Ford projects take chances and LA County makes the space available to companies like Furious is commendable. The space itself has gone through many metamorphoses over the years as the Pilgrimage became the John Anson Ford. The Company Theatre produced a unique version of their James Joyce Memorial Liquid Theatre there in the early seventies to huge audiences upstairs … Outside at the Pilgrimage. Prolific playwright Robert Patrick (Kennedy’s Children) held theatre workshops in what was then a simple open space downstairs. Later, Steven Kent’s ProVisional Theatre, split off from The Company, performed political theatre with the story of Xa reminding audiences of the horrors of war.

The space was called the “Taper, too,” for a while, with small creative productions sponsored by the Mark Taper Forum. It’s been a space for experiments. And, yes, experimental theatre is sorely needed to keep the art form vital and fresh.

If nothing else, Furious Theatre Company is taking chances. This lurid tale of teenager Josh Jaxson (Nick Cernoch), spray paint huffer/graphic artist/burgeoning super hero is a stretch. Like a 21^st Century graphic novel, Pelfrey’s script flings the audience left and right with unprovoked violent attacks, super hero interventions, parallel universes and some wild video projections reflecting, as a friend pointed out, the heavy influence of television on the youth of today.

SG

FM

HH

The triumverate of erstwhile Super Heros:

Security Guard (Troy Metcalf)

Fire Man (Shawn Lee)

Hellbound Hero (Nick Cernoch)

These three hapless heroes, modern day everymen: just pretty much normal guys, are thrust by individual heroic efforts into the spotlight, lionized, vilified and eventually driven to a bad end are based on playwright Matt Pelfrey’s examination of Richard Jewell, the Atlanta security guard who may have saved lives at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Enjoyment of and relating to this play will turn on the generation with whom you survive. Twentieth century aficionados who remember early comic books with super heroes like Superman and Batman will find themselves struggling for a point of reference. Evidently, the Graphic Novel has supplanted the comic book in the geek spotlight. There’s a bad moon rising.

In the cast we find a mixed bag of mumblers, screamers, good guys, bad guys, archetypes, stereotypes and bad impersonators. The task is for the audience to figure out which is which, who is who and whether or not to care. With all the doubling going on, program references are a must. Director Damaso Rodriguez has his hands full. Skill levels are uneven and dialogue like “It’s cool, man. Seriously, I’m good.” speaks for itself.

Video projections by Jason H. Thompson are terrific using moving scrims for projections to set the scene on the grungy multipurpose set. Actors duplicate themselves now and then via video. That part works, too. It may be the acoustics in this small space, but much of the dialogue, to me, was garbled, though the action pretty much made up for the loss of any words. Thank goodness the action was graphic. The staged fight scenes need work.

Furious has spent a lot of time, money and energy on this project. I learned that there are five hundred cues: lights, sound and video, making the real super heroes of the evening the Furious technical crew.

No Good Deed by Matt Pelfrey

Furious Theatre Company

A live-on-stage graphic novel adventure

Inside the Ford

2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East

Hollywood, CA 90068

Tickets and information 323 461 3673

http://fordtheatres.org

www.iamhellbound.com

General Admission $25

Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays Through February 26

Call theatre for specific times and prices

Neil LaBute's THE MERCY SEAT

Several definitions of “mercy seat” come up in a Google search. In Neil LaBute’s play now on stage at [Inside] The Ford, I’m having difficulty relating the title to the play itself. One definition has to do with a ledge where the faithful may rest during a required long stand in church. Another relates to the covering on the Ark of the Covenant where God met man in the Holy of Holies. I have not vetted this quote, but it may give us a clue to LaBute’s angle on what is going on with the two lovers who make up the cast of the play.

“…and I will commune with thee from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things..." Exodus 25:17-22

Does this definition have relevance to Ben (VS. founder Johnny Clark) and Abby (Michelle Clunie)? Was the 9/11 Attack a message from Above that drove them to face each other (two cherubim?) in a moment of Truth? Abby and Ben (he is unhappily married with children) have been lovers for more than three years as they rendezvous the day after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. Abby Prescott’s apartment, a stylish loft in lower Manhattan, is lushly decorated in Danny Cistone’s expensively appointed set. In fact, everything about the VS. Theatre Company’s West Coast Premiere of The Mercy Seat shouts First Cabin. Pre-show the audience is surrounded by projected images of the New York City skyline. A sound montage includes sirens and news reports of the aftermath of that terrible day. At rise, a small television set upstage recounts the ongoing problems in the city. A lot is going on all at the same time.

Ben sits with the dust of the tragedy on his pants legs, seemingly in shock. Abby enters in a whirlwind. She is full of anger. The two are colleagues in an office in the World Trade Center. She is Ben’s boss. In the relationship, defined and redefined in the almost two hours of dialogue, the struggle for some common definition of what the relationship is, has been and may be emerges. Power shifts back and forth, but mostly lands with Abby as the two of them play tug of war with emotions and the ultimate decision for Ben to “make the call.” They avoided being at Ground Zero the day before. But no one knows that they were not there.

LaBute is not Edward Albee. Ben and Abby are nowhere near the peaks and valleys we find with George and Martha in “Virginia Woolf.” Clark and Clunie create believable characters and steer them through the morass of emotions and ethics, already compromised for three years with their on-going affair, but it’s more of an acting exercise than a conceit that makes us much care about either of the characters. As an exercise in stage discipline, the two deserve applause. At Sunday’s matinee, Clunie, at the curtain call, was obviously exhausted. It was, indeed, hard work!

So.. An urban morality play? What is the ‘right thing’ to do? Who’s in charge? Two cherubim face one another at the Moment of Truth? An acting exercise well played? Mostly, the latter.

Director Ron Klier keeps the pace up and working, but has little opportunity for action with the exception of a moment of passion which inexplicably turns the blue sky crimson red; then fades as the dénouement arrives. Even so, the production values are excellent.

Applause to The Ford Theatre Foundation and the L.A. County Arts Commission with support from the National Endowment of the Arts for making [Inside] the Ford available for challenging new theatre. The venue lends itself to one set productions and I, for one, commend VS. Theatre Company as well as The Rogue Company's production of HYPERBOLE: origins and Theatre Neo's FREE produced there this season.

The Mercy Seat by Neil LaBute
VS. Theatre Company at
[Inside] the Ford
2580 Cahuenga East
Hollywood, CA 90068
Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8PM
Sundays at 2PM
Through April 24, 2011
$20.00 Top
Tickets and Information
323 461 3673
www.fordtheatres.org