Too many cracks in the 'Wall' Too many cracks in the 'Wall' (December 12, 2003)

TheatreWorks' show falls short of expectations

By Julie O'Shea

A play that shamelessly pokes fun at the perceived missteps of the George W. Bush administration seems destined to become a 21st-century stage gem.

A.R. Gurney's "The Fourth Wall," which had its West Coast premiere at the Lucie Stern Theatre last weekend, is not this play.

While the TheatreWorks cast certainly gives us many laugh-out-loud moments, the actors are unable to sustain our curiosity for a satire that acts as a vehicle for the playwright's rage with right-winged politics and the American theater, which, he argues, has long since started to wither.

No doubt, Gurney had a genius of an idea when he penned the script during the first Bush administration and updated it when Junior was elected to office in 2000. But somewhere between his first draft and the finished product, he lost his vision. As a result, "The Fourth Wall" seems more in line with a psychiatric mapping exercise than a theatrical masterpiece, as many critics have christened it.

Gurney's a sophisticated playwright who hardly likes mincing his words, but frankly, there is way too much going on in his latest stage endeavor that it becomes tiring trying to keep up with his metaphors. In addition, it's hard to find a definite connection between one character's dislike of Bush and the plot.

In the theater world, the fourth wall often refers to the imaginary barrier between the actors and the audience. In Gurney's world, this "wall" becomes the proverbial box his characters are trying to break through. It's a nice sentiment that quickly gets garbled with the characters' sexual innuendos that Gurney tries to weave into a subplot.

The play centers on a living room in an American suburb (nicely designed by Eric Sinkkonen). It seems normal enough, but as we quickly learn from a frenzied Roger (Jackson Davis), his wife, Peggy (Kimberly King), has rearranged the furniture as a statement of her disgust with the federal government and her unstable marriage. If that weren't weird enough, it is further explained that all the furniture is facing a bare "fourth wall" (a.k.a. the theater audience). As it turns out, Peggy is convinced there are people on the other side of that wall who are watching her every move.

If it weren't for the fact that we are indeed watching her every move, we'd think Peggy is verifiably nuts. But instead of calling the loony bin, Roger calls Julia (Suzanne Grodner), a trampy New York City socialite and an old friend of the family's, for some advice on how to right his wife's troubling behavior.

Julia immediately assesses the room and deems that it's been made to look like the set of a play. (How perceptive.) And wouldn't you know, everyone starts acting as though they were, well, in a play. Enter stage right, Floyd (Danny Scheie), a local drama professor, who's been invited into the play to help bring it to a close. Needless to say, Floyd's presence only adds another facet to an already confusing situation. The whole thing drags along for an hour and a half (there is no intermission) as the characters muddle through sexual escapades, identity meltdowns and a few Cole Porter songs.

What truly carries the Palo Alto show, directed by Jules Aaron, is the actors' boundless energy and precise comic timing. They are having so much fun up there that each time Roger gives us one of those stares, Julia cocks her foot into the air, Peggy rushes off stage or Floyd screams a little louder to get his point across, we can't help but smile at such ridiculously delightful antics.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

Information

What: TheatreWorks presents "The Fourth Wall" by A.R. Gurney
Where: Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
When: Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.; Wednesdays through Fridays 8 p.m. (no performances Dec. 24 and 25); Saturdays at 8 p.m. with additional 2 p.m. performances Dec. 13, 20 and 27; Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; closes Dec. 28
COST: $20-$48
CALL: 903-6000 or visit theatreworks.org

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