Sweeter by Elizabeth Guest

Elizabeth Guest

 

By Joe Straw

 

The beautiful Lyric Hyperion Theatre is not easy to get to no matter your endeavored course.   But just when you think you’re nearing your destination, the roads take you in a variety of directions, not north, not really south, hopelessly not west, and definitely not east.  

 

The streets leading there are protracted mess that moves one in a myriad of ways, and adjustments need to be made for parking and traffic when time is running short.  One blames no other than myself for starting too late, a quick dinner in West Los Angeles and what I think is a reasonable amount of time to get to my destination, nearing the end, was not.

 

So, the show was to start at 7:30 pm and my arrival time was 7:28pm, just made it! A very odd time to start the show one might add.  Stepping into the theatre and taking a deep breath, I make a relaxing note that “these things never start on time.” Still, one is frazzled.

 

Seven forty-eight and still a bare stage, but there is music, The Beatles, the music dies, the lights dim and stepping into the theatre door is Elizabeth (Liz) Guest, the late performer, no strike that, the performer who is purposefully late.    

 

All eyes adjust to the door, she apologizes profusely, and one hears things rattle as she negotiates the noise caressing a humidifier and all the additional paraphernalia that surrounds her including two very large suitcases.

 

So, the audience has been waiting, and she apologizes for being late, because there’s no parking, coming all the way from Casita Del Campo restaurant, hauling her stuff from hither and yon.

 

Pretty and tall as a blue flower, she gathers herself, her belongings, the suitcases, guitar, humidifier and hobbles them to the stage to announce that she has just moved out of her boyfriend’s apartment and then declares that the show is about leaving her boyfriend.

 

She needs help. And in this moment of deep self-reflection, self-preservation, and self-liberation, she calls well beyond her calling for help – her psychiatrist Dr. Ruth, leaving a message when doctors are not always on your beck and call.

 

Her boyfriend?   

 

She didn’t have the heart to tell him because, he’s currently in the shower and, well, he’s unaware that she has left him.  This is how these things go for her. She suddenly needs to text him to bring her the other humidifier. (She has two.) She texts the message but hasn’t the heart to hit “send”.

 

Time is of the essence, and she searches for additional help. Someone a little closer - her friends in the audience to hit send because ultimately, she doesn’t want to be the mean girl.  

 

Sidney her friend, is called upon on this night, but she is hesitant to help and after repeated requests she bequests her finger to do the dirty work and then says, “Don’t talk to me anymore.”

 

Friends.

 

This massive messy jumbled world she lives in can be explain, well sort of, by the fact that she is a people pleaser and doesn’t want to hurt anyone.  So, the night is filled with self-analysis as to how she got that way.   

 

There was so much to enjoy on this packed night especially when it’s about a single woman suddenly engaged in an emotion conflict without a solution to her problem.  Melanie Shaw, the director, effectively uses the fourth wall using the patrons as participants.  But this show has an already built in cast of six people including Nicholas and Pamela Guest, Timm Sharp (the boyfriend), Sydney Steinberg and Ruha Taslimi. All were in the audience apart from Melanie Shaw, with a clear and resolute voice, in the booth.  And with Tim Sharp, the boyfriend, the audience moves to take sides whether it was intended or not. The direction for the whole night rang a very sincere truth.  

 

Elizabeth Guest, the writer, gives us her life with all the moral imperfections starting at a young age through adulthood. She used the opening moment of the breakup in a quest to find why she is a people pleaser. She may not have found the complete answer, but she continues to try through marvelously indiscreet and poignant moments to the end.  

 

The play has the capacity to evolve each night with touch ups to the artist’s canvas. With the apology to the audience in the opening moments, Elizabeth should also apologize to her parents, both professional actors, to completely sell the idea of being late. Also, because this is new, and a work in progress, one is not sure if the mishaps on stage were genuine. One moment is the call to Dr. Ruth.  Another is when she had Melanie Shaw, in the booth, played dance music. Also, the car crash in Michigan needs a clearer explanation.  

 

Elizabeth’s work was exceptional with terrific timing and a very off beat sense of herself capped with a facetious smile.  There were also some very fine emotional moments as well especially when she is speaking about her estranged sister.

 

Timm Sharp does a very nice turn as the boyfriend who is willing to let her go without any problems whatsoever. His performance is very clever and simple all without the exterior emotional heartache that is sometimes prevalent in these kinds of situations.

 

Sydney Steinberg hits all the right notes as a friend and an audience member. Ruha Taslimi is equally well suited as the quiet friend who wants to be more especially when she is on stage trying her best to be part of improv.  

 

Nicholas Guest had some very fine moments and projected his voice across the theatre while Pamela Guest played it naturally as an audience member with a barely audible “c**ts” when describing the mean girl bullies at the Immaculate Heart Middle School.

 

“Sweeter” is a nickname given to Liz by her parents and the night was exceptional.