Word: ruiz
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...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...
Perhaps a Paganini Caprice is the wrong analogy, though. Paganini's work was all style, full of flashy ornamentations but with little in the way of an enchanting melody to anchor his flights of dexterity. What makes Ruiz's production so successful is that for all its high-speed antics, it keeps its feet planted firmly on the ground. The sets of Glenn Reisch '99 manage to keep Ayckbourn's experiments with time and place under control. Reisch essentially designs two sets, one for each home. Remarkably, they are different enough so that the audience never loses its bearings...
...course, the real strength of Ruiz's production lies in his cast. Jonah St. Newmoth leads the comic charge as the dim-witted but lovable Frank Foster, flanked at all times by Duda as the detestably arrogant Bob and Hanson as the hopelessly pathetic but well-meaning William...
...Ruiz's men would border on the wrong side of caricature, though, were it not for their more grounded female counterparts. Matthay, as Fiona, is the most outrageous of this trio, though suitably so. She breathes cold-blooded temptress through every line. Kate Agresta '02 as Teresa Phillips and Rabbit as Mary Detweiller provide the backbone of the ensemble. Stressed out and overwhelmed, respectively, they provide glimpses from outside the crazy world that Ayckbourn creates, giving a somewhat more reasoned (or at least reasonable) response to the circus act that their life has become...