The Flight Theatre on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood is
a second story walkup, a long pleasant walkup.
Slightly winded (I’ve got to get to a gym), the Flight Theatre is behind
the brown office-like door. Going inside
the theatre, I found it to be a marvelous quaint space and very user friendly.
As we wait for the performance to start, I examine the photographs
projected onto the wall. This is a fascinating glimpse into something that
could be routine: photographs that are mirrored images projected side by side. But, as you stare at the images, the image on
the right may appear beautiful while the same image inverted looks disturbing,
rather freakish, and simply out of place. Fascinating! And it’s a matter of perspective.
pool (no water), written by Mark Ravenhill and directed by
Dave Barton, is a very quirky show, which I enjoyed immensely. There is nudity, profanity, disturbing
images, and adult situations so don’t bring children, still there is something
here for the adult family. Through June 17th 2012, pool (no water)
is produced by 22 Players for Monkey Wrench Collective.
The actors are artists or characters that act on extreme
emotions. They don’t have names only
perspectives of what they are feeling and how they react to given
circumstances.
The play is about The Artist (Jessica Lamprinos) who is
semi-successful and has a lot of friends who are also artists (although not as
successful). They are the hangers on. Think Andy Warhol and his minions.
“Thank you for looking after Sally”
Sally, a member of the group, was a friend to the The Artist
and the rest of the group. The group watched as Sally dies a painful and
horrible death.
“Sally is gone and I could do nothing.
And death is big and we are small.”
The Artist didn’t care and wasn’t there. Sally’s carcass was stone cold before The
Artist arrived. But The Artist wasn’t
like the others, she was cold and aloof.
Some say she breaths cold and aloof. Silently, the others blamed her for
Sally’s death. Well okay, maybe not, but there was a stare. There was a cold and icy stare and was directed
to the one that neglected Sally. But, they
were all equals, all artists, one for all and all for one.
“We all cared so passionately.”
And as The Artist, she uses that experience to garner fame
and fortune. And with this fame and fortune, The Artist manages to sell a lot
of art and is able to acquire a home with a pool. One can’t help but think there is a slight
expression of jealously, that everyone cared, that everyone felt something for
one of his or her own, and yet The Artist gets all of the glory.
Nevertheless, everyone wishes The Artist success but that is
not enough. She wants to wallow in her
fame and fortune. And she wants to share her success with everyone, especially her
dear, dear, dear small and loyal friends. She invites them over to her
house. And they get there anyway they
can, just to be with her and to experience her new pool and palms tress, and the
beautiful air. And it’s all so lovey dovey. They hug, and hug, and hug some more, and get
re-acquainted.
But as the night wears on The Artist, feeling the party is
getting a little boring, gets everyone to join her to skinny dip in the
pool. Everyone thinks this is a
marvelous idea and they begin to take off their clothes. When everyone is
completely naked, The Artist proceeds to christen the pool and dives in.
They hear what could only be describing as a splat, a crack,
and a thud.
They creep up to the edge to see The Artist lying on the
bottom of the pool (no water). And so The
Artist lies there, quiet at first. Someone notices a “slight stream of piss” coming
from her body. And they just look at her at the bottom of the pool, not knowing
what to do, who to call. They run around like chickens with their heads cut
off.
“I’m sorry that you have to suffer.
I’m sorry there’s this pain.”
Someone finally calls the paramedics and they all rush to
the hospital to be with her. And they stay with her, all wringing their hands frantically;
being with her is the most important thing.
After all, they are artists, if she dies with them at her bedside, then
they can tell the world they were there and they might be enriched by the whole
experience!
Unfortunately, The Artist survives. This is not a good thing
for them. There has to be a dead body for the living to become famous.
But wait a minute.
They are artists and they know how to create. Someone has a camera. They start taking pictures of The Artist
being unconscious in bed and in various uncompromising positions, licking,
touching, inserting, breaking, tonging, feeling, opening and closing her legs
and with the idea they are making art.
All of the photographs are arranged around her until The
Artist awakes and she has a reaction to the art that is her unconscious self in
the state of bruises and broken bones.
This is a fantastic play by Mark Ravenhill. The characters have an inner monologue that they
express to give a definitive truth. They
express the obvious, how they feel and why they feel. It is this exploration of
truth, the boldness of expression, and the willingness to say what one feels
without recriminations from ballsy accusations. Art only comes through the exploration of the
unknown until it becomes known. That is
the reason that I flat out enjoyed the play. Everyone has his or her own perspective and
that perspective is creatively explored.
This plays has many ways it can be performed and the
director Dave Barton has given us only a glimpse of an idea of what he needs. There are many more layers that the
characters need to flesh out to make their objectives more specific and clear.
Each individual performer has an art to express, that expression needs to be
clear, and not waste time getting there. Simply put, clean up the art, make it
explicit, and express the art to move the play along.
Oddly enough, in The New York Times review of this play only
five characters are mentioned. This, possibly different, version of the play
has 11 characters.
In any case, there may have been too many artists to allow
for each artist to be specific in their own genre. Each requires a clear
definition of who they are and what purpose their art moves the story or
expression along. There is a lot of
truth in their dialogue but how is their dialogue expressed through the physical
expression of their art?
Peter Balgoyen wears kid-like clothes. His character of
choice is Pikachu, with red shorts and white suspenders.
Christopher Basile wears the small skirt and shirt that says,
“Eat my Fuck”. Don’t know what that
mean, but okay, he’s an artist.
Jessica Lamprinos, The Artist, has a sincere insincerity
look on her face. The double air kiss on
the non-existent cheek, the “I’m holier than thou”, I love you but keep your
distance, and here I am, an artist at work, seemed to work effectively. I loved her expressive video on the website!
Terri Mowrey did some very nice work in the black poke
dotted dress.
Alexander Price is in the plaid shorts and green glasses. Not
really sure what he is all about but I liked his performance nevertheless.
Keith Bennett is in the coveralls. Farm art?
I don’t know.
Sean Engard is in the yellow pants and blue leather
jacket. His art can be defined as
something to do with computers and lights and dances to the gyrations of his
own self-gratification. Not a bad thing
for an artist, but how does it move the play along?
Bryan Jennings is the fitness instructor wearing the blue
spotted jacket and spotted pants. His
art is his body and the money he can make from teaching others to get their
body fit, for a price of course.
Jeffrey Kieviet is wearing a shirt with a woman’s face on it
that appears to say “My Ruin”. He has a
very nice look.
Melita Ann Sagar has on the black dress, with nude leggings,
red shoes, and cleavage showing. She has
a very interesting look and there were a lot of sincere emotions in her
performance. I liked her work and she
has a wonderful face for film and television.
Cynthia Ryanen is in the red sweater and green pants and is
not afraid to give it her all. This was a terrific performance and very
enjoyable.
Heather Enriquez did the Costume Design. Angela Ann Lopez
did a nice job as the Choreographer.
Jeremy Bug Ojeda was the Lighting Designer. Jody J. Reeves was the Stage
Manager. David Scaglione was the Scenic Designer and Eric A. Wahl was the Video
Designer.
Go take a friend whose art is temporarily stymied.
Reservations: 800-838-3006
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/238689
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