The Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love
play: Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Lovedirector: Tony Cedeño
when: August 24-September 16th LAST SHOWING TODAY AND TOMORROW!!!!
where: Black Box Theatre
cost: Thurs. $8 Fri.-Sun. $16 students and seniors $12
about: David is a incredibly sexually active, nearly 30 gay man, former PBS superstar, living with one of his best friend's, Candy, in an apartment. Candy is a smart lady who obsessively watches her weight while looking for love anywhere she can get it. Bernie is also part of the friend gang but currently living with his wife and in a government job. He is constantly cheating on his dear wife every chance he can get. Dana is the deceased character of this play, formerly one of the gang, she apparently committed suicide after getting an abortion. David doesn't believe in love, though loves someone forbidden to him. Candy believes in it too much. Bernie is stuck desperately trying to get out. To top all of this off there is a muderer going around raping innocent women and then killing them. Maybe not-so-classic who-done-it play full of people just trying to find that acceptance from someone, anyone. Just trying to find a place to fit, finally.
review: UHRTNL (jeebus, it's even an obnoxiusly long acronym) is a dark humour plus murder mystery who-done-it with a dash of urban legend, a smattering of after school special, and a homosexual theme, which is fabulous in the true cliché of the word.
Joseph Beuerlein shows that not only is he good in a hilariously tragic drag role (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) but also as a hilariously tragic gay man, David, who is in love with his best friend, Bernie. The entire cast really brings otherwise hard to relate to characters to the forefront, gaining sympathy and understanding to people that you might on every day meeting scoff at.
Shane Chuvalas (Bernie) played a cheating alcoholic really well. I'm not quite sure if that's a compliment or not. Who knows, Shane Chuvalas could really be a cheating alcholic. Regardless, Bernie is the type of person that you want to smack and pet lovingly all at the same time.
Sarah Campbell has my heart in both of the things she's been in that I've seen. The first time I ever saw this gal she was in The Black Box Theatre's Romeo and Juliet as Juliet's maid. I loved her then and I love her even more now as she plays Jerri, the very butch lesbian obsessed with Candy, the very not lesbian love-seeker.
Jacques Durand was sufficiently creepy as Robert, the bartender. Robert had a girlfriend named Evelyn. She has a fetish for feet. Just for the record, I wasn't insulted that Evelyn had a foot fetish. I'm sure Evelyn was an, otherwise, fantastic person. She has a good name. Anyway, Robert is also slightly obsessed with Candy who comes in every day for a Seltzer water fix. The thing I really loved about Jacques performance was his stare. He had this reeeeally creepy stare like at any moment he was going to devour you whole. Very impressive.
Oh, Laurel. Miss Laurel Hackworth perched so precariously on top of that door looking down on the characters in her own urban legend. Benita is this fabulous character and, physically, Laurel Hackworth is perfect for the role. She also has this very creepy innocent voice and just gives you the chills when she sings the trademark song "Diddle Diddle, or the Kind Country Lovers" (as it was called, originally written in the 1600s). The pertinant lyrics were "Lavender's blue, diddle diddle/ Lavender's green,/ When I am king, diddle diddle/ You'll be my queen." Laurel also had these magnificent eyes that peeked from under her black fashion wig and really added to the childlike story telling of Benita's fetish with Urban legends.
Mandi Lawson was just fantastic as the wanting for love, self-consious Candy. She was a perfect match with Joseph Beuerlein's David. They played off of one another like they'd been in a comedy troupe for ages. Candy just wants love. What it seems, though, is that the love she could really do for is the love of herself. Then again, isn't that usually the case with most of us?
Joseph Samuel Wright plays Kane, the rich 18...er...17 year old who is infatuated with David as well as his short stint as an actor on PBS. Though he seemed impassionate at times, Joseph was good for the part. Note: lower butt cheeks will be seen from Mr. Joseph.
I usually wouldn't center on the actors of the play in such detail but if they had been anyone else the play would have come across as impassionate and stereotypical.
The blocking of the play really caught my eye. If you'll notice, there seems to always be three groups or people of focus in every scene. Benita is usually one, always from her high perch on the door looking down to the other two below. But near the end there are three groups and Benita's sorta darkened out. There is also the "lover's triangle" plot. The entire play is like this verbal and physical montage. Lines of dialogue come spilling out of those who aren't onstage adding to the current scene. Unsaid truths and desires and wantings are known from the get-go.
[side rant: A theatre teacher at Pellissippi told my friend, Jay, that the reason he didn't want to go see the play was that he didn't like the characters nor the fact that none of them changed during the progress of the play. I dispute this emmensly. Fine if you don't like the characters, but don't insult the storyline before you've seen the play. Even if you've read the script or seen the movie, you, as a theatre teacher, should know that it is nothing compared to actually seeing a performance of it, live. How dare you discredit a play so much as to tell your students it's not worth seeing.]
The best stories are about love. Love is a terrible, wonderful thing. And sometimes you have to do terrible, wonderful things in the name of it. I know this review is scattered and disjointed, but I hope it at least gets the point across that this play is fantastic and should be seen in one of its last nights.
E.M. Green approved
posted by Green @ 4:06 PM
0 comments
