Design for Living by Noël Coward

L - R Garikayi Mutambirwa, Brooke Bundy, Kyle T. Hester - Photos by Cooper Bates

 

By Joe Straw

“It should be easy, you know.  The actual facts are so simple.  I love you.  You love me.  You love Otto. I love Otto. Otto loves you.  Otto loves me.  There now! Start to unravel from there.” - Leo

Unravel indeed.

She is adorned, in the early morning wearing a tan sleeping gown and nicely layered robe. Gilda (Brooke Bundy), youthful, desirable, possibly whimsical, filled with life’s experience, walks alone with just her thoughts in her lover’s Paris apartment.

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents Design For Living written by Noël Coward and directed by Bart DeLorenzo and produced by Beth Hogan and Ron Sossi at the Odyssey through August 25, 2024.

Yes, there’s something on her mind as she stares wistfully out her window.   A ladder visible beyond the window stands with no one on their way up possibly waiting for a man - handy to use it - for some job or another and upwardly mobile.

If only there was a man out there. That would have piqued Gilda’s interest for a moment or two, but one more man is not on her agenda today.  She has other men in her life to think about especially the one man sleeping off that high-spirited evening in her tiny corner bedroom.

What was that? A passionate night or falderal? Was it love with a capital L, or a dalliance? All those thoughts will be categorized, mentally boxed, and pushed to the side for another day. She was always attached to accomplished men that aspired to great things.  

Gilda’s joie de vivre has her men living on the edge as they take up space in her mind and she takes up space in an artist loft.  It’s Otto’s (Garikayi Mutambirwa) apartment. She lives with him in living color and his unfinished works of art, are scattered, without purpose, against whatever darkened space was available. Her decorating skills - diminished upon reflection and somewhat a skewed - but for now she calls it, home?

There is a sudden knock at the door, a familiar knock to her, but she must remove the articles of men’s clothing that litter her surroundings. Incriminating evidence at that and that’s an issue, and a dissembled topic of conversation she just does not want to have once she decides to open the door.

Luckily, it is Ernest Friedman (Andrew Elvis Miller), a family friend, wise beyond his aging years, a perfectly attired, penciled mustached nebbish sort of being that is bringing in a mystery painting à son entrée.  Something that he’s bought, a Matisse, as a personal investment ready to cash in when the time is right and the market sweet.

Ernest tells Gilda to wake up Otto so that he can see it, but Gilda says she doesn’t want to disturb him, that he has a temporary disfiguring disease, neuralgia.

Hmmm.

Andrew Elvis Miller and Brooke Bundy

 

Odd, Ernest, as long as he has known her, hasn’t quite figured Gilda out.   He’s extremely uncomfortable with her wandering hands over his body. And flatly he doesn’t think much of her decorating skills either. He likens her to a jaguar and an ox because of her strength in getting her way.  Jealousy takes over especially when he criticizes Otto’s artwork of her (now unseen) being “so tranquil”.

Ernest playfully confesses that he is fond of Gilda, he says so sedulously, in his own special way, their long ties with her and her mother, now deceased.  But Gilda confesses that she loves Otto and says it loudly into the bedroom so that he will hear it.

Also, Gilda confesses that Leo (Kyle T. Hester), now a rich and famous playwright, is back and is staying at the Hotel George V. And Ernest, surprised, and suspects something that Leo, by now, would have found his way quickly to her apartment. What a nice time to interrupt!

Double hmmm.  

Otto, who was previously perceived to be in the bedroom, comes in through the front door with his suitcase having just arrived in Paris.   After a brief discussion, Gilda hustles both Ernest (who is wised by now) and Otto to visit their friend Leo at Hotel George V.

And after they leave, Leo steps out of the bedroom.

Style, panache, and a sincere openness permeate this production as though one were stepping back in time to 1933 and flipping through a Vogue magazine with static shots of people lounging a normal Vogue lifestyle.  Design For Living is a colorful and character driven play that played well on this night to a perfectly sensible audience.  

Having arrived on opening night there is still more to be had in this production, moments that didn’t quite gel, changes in the relationships that moves a character from one position to another, and a second act with new characters that adds little to the dilemma facing the main characters.

Still, there’s a lot to enjoy in this production directed by Bart DeLorenzo a comfortable flow of characters and witticisms that permeates throughout. Settle down and take it all in and for the most part this is a joyful ride throughout the night.

But can comedy win the night without the pain of tormented love? No character, in this production, seems the least bit upset that Gilda is not interested in them, nor are they upset that she leaves at the drop of a hat. They all tirelessly work to win her love, but when she leaves it’s as though she never left the room, and the two men shrug and find love at their fingertips, with each other.

This slightly truncated Noël Coward’s comedy is ambivalent enough to be played many ways. DeLorenzo prefers to highlight the feeling of love throughout without the heated passion of love’s injustices. They all are, by some accounts, dastardly in the way they secure love.  These educated men find ways to win Gilda and they do it in remarkable and devious ways. Ernest finds Gilda in the arms of the man she is not supposed to be with, twice – each time making a play for himself.  Otto and Leo wait until the other is out of town to make their move.   

Comedy works better when there is more at stake especially when possession is nine tenths of the law and the ultimate prize.   

Act I, scene I, somehow needs to show this is Otto’s apartment, however that can visually manifest itself.  A darkened space, a furniture wrap, some paint splattered against the wrap does not give possession to an unseen character.  We know there’s a man there via the men’s clothing in the apartment, we’re just not sure who it is. Gilda is expected to be there because she is Otto’s girlfriend, and it is his studio.  

Ernest is expecting to see Otto. He’s been there before but makes no move to go to the bedroom to show Otto the Matisse painting. A man is in the bedroom. He knows Gilda is up to something but there’s never a back and forth, two steps forward, one step back until Ernest gives up. All references to Otto should playout as though he were in the bedroom.

Also, in that same scene, when Otto enters his apartment, he treats it as though it were not his own home.  It’s a moment that is visually confusing.  He never comes close to placing the suitcase in his bedroom, or someplace suitable in his apartment, nor does he see the Matisse that is near his bedroom door, take note of it, and or compare it to his own work of art against his rival’s taste in art.

There is a huge predicament in that first scene that Gilda needs to overcome while Ernest is both curious and excited to see how her situation was going to play out. And that predicament needs another level to make it both funny and truthful. 

These are only minor things in a show that is otherwise exceptional and can get better, and funnier as the performances gel.      

Brooke Bundy as Gilda is exciting to watch simply because she thinks on stage, and she is completely unpredictable.  Moving from one man to the next, we rarely see the definitive moment when she decides to change course, turn in her exit keys, and walks off with another lover.  It just seems to happen. Not wanting marriage, she is content to be happy, but doesn’t know what that looks like.  A terrific performance.

Andrew Elvis Miller is outstanding as Ernest Friedman. The character work is first rate and the manner to get what he wants works on a very subtle level.  The Matisse is used as a tool of seduction. It's very subtle though. The tie he picks up in the first scene gets lost behind other actors for a purpose that is not fully conveyed and what he does with that tie is also lost. Ernest always finds the suitable time to interrupt to show that he is the man, always throwing out a subtle love song to get what he wants. And the work is incredible.

Garikayi Mutambirwa work as Otto Sylvus is also incredible.  His mannerism in the drinking scene is something never witnessed before and almost brings the house down with laughter. The first scene needs work especially when taking control of his apartment. Also, being prim and proper, no one in this production ever goes overboard hurt with emotions.

Kyle St. Hester and Sheelagh Cullen

 

Kyle T. Hester is very good as Leo Mercuré a playwright who has suddenly found fame and fortune. And as such, he feels he has carte blanche, willing to take over when his friend is out of town. He must feel somewhat guilty because he doesn’t come out of the bedroom when polite company abounds outside his door.  One is not sure why he ignored the Matisse the moment he comes out – a choice to ignore that doesn’t ring true.

Sheelagh Cullen has dual roles but comes off best as Miss Hodge, the maid always running to answer the phone, doing her best to keep the rich folks happy, and not so opinionated to keep all her thoughts to herself. She also plays Grace Torrence and although successful in character one could not understand anything about her part in that scene.

The same holds true with Max Pescherine as Henry Carver and Shireen Heidari as Helen Carver in the second act – a scene which moves the action forward and gives the moment a definitive mark.

Costume Designer Denise Blasor’s work is first rate and visually very stunning.

John Zalewski, Sound Designer, always excels in his craft.

Other members of the crew are as follows:

Frederica Nasciemento – Scenic Designer

Leigh Allen – Lighting Designer

Jennifer Palumbo – Stage Manager

Nicole Arbusto – Casting Director

Michael Lanham and Samantha Occhino – Assistant Directors

The show produced by Beth Hogan and Ron Sossi is exceptional, with incomparable performances, and another feather in The Odyssey’s cap. This show is just one more reason that everyone should go out and support the smaller theatres in Los Angeles.

Tickets: https://odysseytheatre.com/whats-on/

 The Odyssey Theatre

2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. 

Los Angeles, CA. 90025 

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