Stage Struck Review
Reviewing Theatre For Over 40 Years
Tag Archives: Stephen Gifford
“Red Speedo” at The Road: Ethics, Sports, and the Individual

Coronado Romero, Adam Peltier and Jason E. Kelley star in Southern California Premiere production of “Red Speedo” at The Road Theatre on Magnolia [photos: Brian M. Cole]
Playwright Lucas Hnath has built some of his considerable reputation on positing ethical puzzles – tracing a single choice or event to the ramifications for others who must then also make choices, done while never signaling a single “rightness”. The play becomes all about the character of each person involved, rather than preachiness. One just has a chance to wander, sometimes with gentle humor as well as drama and pathos, where a single fundamental choice leads.
Which brings one to Hnath’s “Red Speedo,” now at The Road Theatre Company in North Hollywood. Ray is a swimmer on the verge of qualifying for the Olympics. If he does, his lawyer brother has brokered a sponsorship deal for him with Speedo. Now Ray’s coach – owner of the gym where he trains – has discovered a cooler full of performance-enhancing drugs in his own office refrigerator. He feels honor bound to report this, which would throw suspicion on his entire gym. Ray’s lawyer suggests flushing the drugs and moving on. Where does Ray stand in it all?
Adam Peltier, as Ray, manages to tread the fine line between a genuine if undereducated and somewhat dim athlete, and turning the character into the stereotypical dumb jock. Although the portrait has intentional comic elements, the audience’s gradual exposure to his underlying humanity gives a certain gravitas to the conundrums of the storyline. As Ray’s brother Peter, Coronado Romero gives the initial fast-talking dominance an increasing physical vocabulary of insecurity. In the end, their story becomes more about marketing than family, and finance over partnership, with all the ethical and emotional baggage that carries with it.
Jason E. Kelley’s coach has to handle the ambition which comes from having a winner in the stable, and then struggling with the official ethics of his sport. As played, this role establishes what is to be gained and lost in the play’s puzzle, and Kelley gives it just the right tone. As Ray’s former girlfriend, who may have been complicit in creating the problem which needs solving, Kimberly Alexander voices a rich combination of bitterness, righteousness and concern. Both characters underscore the question-marks of the piece.
Director Joe Banno keeps this very talky piece in motion, and the tensions building in ways which prove engrossing throughout. Kudos to set designer Stephen Gifford and sound designer Chris Moscatiello who create the atmosphere of a competition poolside area without having to build an entire pool on stage. The results are immersive. A nod also to fight director Bjorn Johnson, whose choreography makes the culminating scene in this increasingly intense play both convincing and cathartic.
“Red Speedo” is, in its essence, an examination of the modern drive to win, the baggage that any athlete looking to end up on the world stage must carry with him, and how easy it is for that athlete to end up being seen as a commodity. As such it offers an audience a chance to ponder the ethics of sport itself – a process which will last after the play is done.
What: “Red Speedo” When: through July 1, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays Where: The Road on Magnolia, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood. How Much: $34 general, $15 seniors/students Info: (818) 761-8838 or http://www.roadtheatre.org
Enough Yucks for the Buck?: “The Complete History of Comedy (abridged)” at the Falcon

In one of the shows high points, the cast of “The Complete History of Comedy (abridged)” celebrates commedia dell’arte
The comic playwriting team of Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor has created several funny send-ups of classics, known as the “Complete (abridged)” plays. The best known is the wildly funny “Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)” which even had them falling out of their chairs in London. Thus, a chance to see their more recent concoction, “The Complete History of Comedy (abridged)” here in the Los Angeles area seemed a no-brainer. Now at the Falcon Theatre, it has another hallmark, being the last show of the last season orchestrated by Falcon founder, the late Garry Marshall, himself no slouch in the comedy department.
Sadly, though there are a number of funny moments, this “Complete History…” does not quite hold up. Well performed by a trio of very talented, high-energy and versatile actors, it still suffers from two essential flaws: a convoluted and unfunny construct which becomes the show’s driving force and supposed aim, and too little material which is funny enough (or not too dated) to power a full two acts of performance.
First, the construct: supposedly a famous Chinese manuscript written by the brother of “The Art of War” writer Sun Tsu, called “The Art of Comedy” (by Ah Tsu… get it?) has been uncovered in a trunk, though it is missing its final chapter. The discovery was made thanks to guidance from a mysterious man in a bowler hat and clown nose. Presenting this fictitious book, and trying to figure out its final chapter, becomes the focus of the show, leading to the uncovering of the identity of the bowler hatted mystery force which brought the book to light.
The best of what follows is a true homage to the history of comedy: the introduction (to many) of the characters in commedia dell’arte, including use of an actual slap-stick, definitions of various “takes”, burlesque silliness, visual comedy of various kinds, and the recurring gag of potential attack with cream pies. There are also slide shows illustrating what is, and what isn’t funny. For the most part, these work too, though some seem a bit forced. There are send-ups of medieval Catholicism, modern politics, and even an homage to Chekhov, whose wry comic takes on the self-absorption of the Russian aristocracy were produced as if they were tragedies.
But there is a lot of dated material. For example, a big musical number about the Supreme Court makes fun of a very alive Antonin Scalia, though he has been dead for over a year. There are other references to personalities only the older members of the audience will remember with that detail, particularly Joseph McCarthy (or Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, for that matter) and Richard Nixon. Indeed, between this and the need to resolve the “who is the man in the bowler hat” scenario, the second act begins to drag and a lot of it simply becomes unfunny.
One cannot fault the performers, however. Zehra Fazal, Marc Ginsburg, and Mark Jacobson prove quick-change artists and creative cross-dressers, interact with the audience and each other, handle physical comedy with great polish, and get just as much as can be gotten out of the material they are handed. Director Jerry Kernion keeps the timing as good as it can be, making the sometimes positively frenetic pace of the thing seem natural. One wonders whether he was allowed – by the playwrights’ people – to insert more updates than a few slides of current political figures into the mix, because given the general artistry of his and his performers, one would think he would have done more to make the thing current if he could have.
Stephen Gifford’s set is just about perfect, setting a specific tone from the very start and facilitating all those costume changes. Those costumes, by A. Jeffrey Schoenberg, and Warren Casey’s many and varied comic props, do as much as absolutely possible to make this show as funny as it is. This is a grand effort by a lot of people. It’s just that, by the second half, much of it is simply not funny.
So, sadly, although “The Complete History of Comedy (abridged)” has some admittedly very laugh-out-loud moments, the lack of consistency and the oddly unsatisfying premise mean that this show does not live up to its potential. Is it terrible? No. Is it poorly done? Also no. It’s just not anywhere near as good as it should have been, but that’s as much the fault of its authors as anything else.
What: “The Complete History of Comedy (abridged)” When: through April 23, 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays Where: The Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside, in Burbank How Much: $30 – $45 Info: (818) 955-8101 or falcontheatre.com
Personal and Powerful: “Rabbit Hole” finishes a run at La Mirada Theatre
Loss hits each person differently, yet there are similarities which bind all of humanity together at such times. Even those who consider themselves straightforward, logical people can be so thrown by tragedy that the universe must shatter – at least for a while – and then rearrange itself into a new pattern of living. To bring this onto a public stage without turning it into a cliche or a Lifetime movie proves the greatest challenge, but one playwright David Lindsay-Abaire has overcome.
Which is why “Rabbit Hole”, now finishing a run as part of the McCoy Rigby Entertainment Series at La Mirada Theatre, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize: it approaches the universal qualities of personal grief in an understated, and thus far more realistic way than most dramas, and also offers a keen portrait of a couple whose individual heartaches are balanced by an underlying, tenacious, mutual bond.
Becca and Howie, a fairly typical middle-class couple, wrestle daily with the aftermath of the accidental death of their 4-year-old son, who chased his dog into the path of an oncoming car. Their normalcy has edges, into which bump Becca’s flighty, irresponsible, and now pregnant younger sister, and her wry, quirky but observant mother. The strains between all of these people are evident, as they bounce off each other and wrestle with the process of moving forward. Yet, the connections seem to hold.
Deborah Puette is Becca, maintaining a stiff, almost obsessive normalcy amidst an increasing internal isolation. Michael Polak’s Howie moves between supportiveness and anger – some of it misplaced, but all of it sincere. Kristina Johnson gives Becca’s sister the oblivious and self-absorbed qualities which make her both an active irritant and a casual observer.
Lori Larsen’s entertainingly straightforward turn as Becca’s mother adds a certain kind of wisdom and patience into the entire environment. In a short, but important turn, Seamus Mulcahy creates a disarmingly innocent immaturity as the sincere teen who was driving on that fateful day.
All of this has been pulled into a natural, flowing cohesion by director Michael Matthews, who takes what is essentially a very episodic tale, and aided by Stephen Gifford’s modular, open set, turns it into a single story. And believe it or not, that story ends up not in grim detachment but in what actually happens, usually, in cases like this: the eventual movement back into life – peace, if not yet joy.
“Rabbit Hole” is funny, wrenching, sad and hopeful by turns. It holds a mirror up to relationship under stress, and a particularly intense aspect of the human condition in a way which is human, warm, and filled with connection. It is most certainly worth taking the time to take in.
What: “Rabbit Hole” When: Through November 17, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and 2 p.m. Sunday Where: La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd. in La Mirada How Much: $20 – $70 Info: (526) 944-9801, (714) 994-6310 or http://www.lamiradatheatre.com