Word: ayckbourn
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Theater has come a long way since the days of ancient Greece, and British playwright Alan Ayckbourn is proof. If Aristotle was willing to dismiss any play that didn't strictly observe the three unities of time, place and action, one can only imagine what he would have to say to Ayckbourn. The second scene of his play How the Other Half Loves, in which two different dinner parties that take place in two different homes on two different days are presented simultaneously, would probably be enough to make the founder of Western literary criticism roll over in his grave...
Needless to say, directory Jerry Ruiz '00 and producer Tanya Melillo '01 have their work cut out for them in How the Other Half Loves. Ayckbourn's farce about marital infidelity is notoriously hard to stage effectively, and the rather conventional space provided by the Agassiz (as opposed to the more flexible Loeb Ex) doesn't make the task any easier. The result, while uneven at times, is admirable. More than that: it is remarkable...
Ruiz makes the bold decision to take on Ayckbourn's play at full speed. Using the split stage like a trapeze, he has his actors bounce, trip and tumble from one level to the next in rapid succession. Props fly, clothes come off and on and off again, and lines of dialogue ricochet off the walls like bullets...
...times, Ayckbourn's zany play gets the best of Ruiz and his cast. There are moments of uncomfortable silence and even emptiness on stage, and at points the actors seem almost ready to collapse with exhaustion. The overall effect, though, approaches that of a Paganini Caprice. The physical and verbal virtuosity of the performance is captivating, and the raw energy that everyone throws into the production is contagious...
...Poor Ayckbourn. The British playwright has turned out a string of increasingly dark, provocative comedies. Yet the few U.S. productions of his work tend to reinforce his outdated reputation as the British Neil Simon. Yes, Communicating Doors, now on display in a sprightly off-Broadway staging, is a relatively playful piece. A hooker (Mary-Louise Parker) gets called in to service an old geezer, who promptly confesses that he had his first two wives killed. She flees into a closet, doors spin, and we are transported to the same room 20 years earlier--then 20 years before that. The time...