The Rice Thresher

Location: http://the.ricethresher.org/ae/2007/11/02/cafe_comedy_review

November 2, 2007 > Arts & Entertainment > Lovett one-acts stage solid scripts with poor execution

Lovett one-acts stage solid scripts with poor execution

By Matthew McKee | Thresher Editorial Staff

Rice college theater does not require professional level acting. Many plays are just fun, creative outlets for drama-inclined students and light entertainment for audiences. However, even with softened standards, there is such thing as a below average performance.

Lovett College’s Cafe and Comedy, which contains two short one-act plays, presents such pedestrian fare. The two comedies in the short hour-long event —“Waiting for Julia” by George Freek and “Night of Faith” by Michael Maiello — offer some cheap humor but are plagued by the common, unfortunate symptoms of hesitant interpretation.

Both plays center on a part of a date gone completely wrong. In “Waiting for Julia,” Peter (Lovett senior Trevor Murphy) has to deal with the crazy parents of his girlfriend Julia (Jones freshman Alicia Hernandez) while waiting to pick her up for the senior prom. Julia’s alcoholic father (Lovett sophomore Spencer Johnson) gives diatribes on the problems of today’s youth, and her overly-flirtatious mother (Lovett sophomore Erin Finn) comes on to Peter very overtly as he tries to make a good impression. This situation lends itself to so many funny interpretations, but only a few are realized.

As the parents pontificate to Peter, Murphy’s facial expressions are priceless. Yet the cast presents an otherwise uninspired reading, constrained by actors who seem afraid to take too many risks. This comes at the cost of many potentially laugh-filled minutes. Julia’s father, for instance, drinks heavily as the scene progresses and could easily be a raging drunk by the end of the performance. Instead, Johnson acts rather reserved, only becoming slightly more active through the rampant cursing in the script and some wobbling when he could have easily built up to a fury of drunken stupor.

Conventional timing and stiff body language reflect the cast’s reluctance to go out on dramatic limbs. The actors often stand still when others are speaking when they could easily be reacting with gesture and facial expression. Luckily, the dialogue and situations offer some humor, but script only carries a reading so far.

The same fearful acting is found in “Night of Faith,” in which Sylvia (Finn) and Henry (Murphy) are going on a date. With the simple situation of a two-person dinner, Finn and Murphy can show some chemistry, but they keep themselves within certain dramatic boundaries that become boring very quickly. As they exchange witty dialogue of a run-and-chase game of seduction, they merely occupy limited emotional states when the script offers so much more.

Their waiter (Lovett senior Adam Williams) is the only actor here who goes all-out for the melodrama appropriate to the comedy. His confident vocal delivery and explicitly sensual body language make his stage presence considerable, allowing him to steal the limelight from his colleagues for all-too-brief moments.

Co-directors Annie Conderacci, a Lovett senior, and Eric Doctor, a Lovett sophomore, bring little experience to this production, and it shows in the fog of hesitancy around this year’s Cafe and Comedy. Amateur actors can have fun, but the stage demands bravado, as well.

End of article

Back to top