Show #59 "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" at ACT Theatre

About 5 years ago, my younger son David and I decided to become season subscribers for Seattle's ACT Theatre. Older brother Tim had just gone off to college, so this would be a perfect Mother/Son sort of activity that David and I wanted to try. After all, how many moms have the pleasure of hearing her high school-aged son suggest, "Mom, let's buy season tickets to a theatre this year"?

The first show of that season was Martin McDonagh's "The Pillowman." For months (even a couple of years) afterward, David couldn't stop talking about that play. It was brilliant. It was funny. It was dark and macabre. We loved it.

Now, ACT Theatre is re-visiting Ireland with another of McDonagh's scripts, "The Lieutenant of Inishmore." This, too, is dark and macabre. It's also brilliant and funny. But instead of taking place in a fictional totalitarian society, this takes place on the island of Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands off Ireland's West Coast.

This is a story set within the violence and rebellion in Northern Ireland during the latter half of the 20th century. Our "hero" is a lieutenant in the INLA, a splinter group off of the better known (to us Americans) IRA. Padraic oozes anger from every pore of his painfully strong body. He fights for a free Ireland, one that is free from oppressors and criminals.

When we first meet Padraic, he is torturing an accused drug dealer. We are treated first-hand to simulated torture that most of us are unaccustomed to viewing on a mainstage in a respectable part of downtown Seattle.

Get used to it.

There's more.

Well....there's no use going on in detail about the other acts of simulated violence. Just suffice to say it wasn't an evening with Rodgers and Hammerstein. It was closer to an evening with the Cohen Brothers or Quentin Tarantino.

The audience hooted and laughed their way through this story of blood, revenge and the love of a kitty cat. (Oh, did I mention that this play is actually a comedy?) Randy and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. With the exception of a few elements in the show that were "over-produced," it was a brilliant piece of work.

What the most amazing take-away I got from this play was that, in the midst of all the violence, fear and bloodshed, I found myself cherishing the people and animals in my life a bit more.

I found myself wishing that David (who is now away at college himself) had been there to enjoy this show with me. I found myself wishing that Tim could have been there, too. They both would have loved it.

But most important, the first thing I did after returning home, was to hug my kitty Penny. If you get a chance to see "Inishmore," you'll understand why.

Photo courtesy of ACT Theatre and photographer Chris Bennion

Show #52 "The Lady With All The Answers" at ACT Theatre

I know I've whined in the past about those theatrical events that our local Equity theatres like to market as "plays." You know what I'm talking about, those one-person talk fests that feel more like (at best) an over-long story that should have ended about an hour before it did....or (at worst) an excruciatingly boring lecture by a senile professor who forgot that (s)he had an actual time limit that must be adhered to.

Yes, I am referring to those one-man or one-woman shows that our "big houses" here in Seattle seem to adore. Audiences seem to like them, too. I wonder why. Usually, I find them boring, sometimes pretentious and in general, not very engaging theatre.

Well, guess what. I found the exception to that rule.

Advice columnist Ann Landers is portrayed by the always entertaining Julie Briskman in a funny, warm and thoroughly engaging evening about the life and love of America's favorite advice-dishing twin.

Unlike other one-person shows, "The Lady With All The Answers" boasted a full set design. Landers' letter-filled office was recreated with charm and visual appeal. There was eye-catching costuming: colorful 1970's outfits complete with Landers' trademark bouffant hairdo. There was even musical interludes, as Landers takes out her collection of LPs and plays a few of them on her stereo turntable.

But what I liked the most was Briskman's Landers herself. Sometimes she read samples of letters sent to her over the years. Other times, she discussed chapters from her life, marriage and career. And then there were moments when the house lights would come up, and Landers would really break that fourth wall and look us straight in the eye.

That was when Ann Landers asked US a question! Us! Imagine that!

Thankfully, none of us in the audience were brought up on stage for some comic "bit." No, she didn't throw confetti at us (a la Carrie Fisher). She even kept us so entertained that ACT Theatre dared to put in an intermission after 45 minutes had gone by. They were sure we would all eagerly return to our seats and watch the rest of the show.

Yep, we did...and boy, that second act was even better than the first.

So......okay. I am now convinced. A one-person play CAN be entertaining and can make good theatre. But all the right elements have to be in place: good story, great acting, an appealing main character, humor, visually effective sets, costumes and sound design.

But that's still not enough. The show has got to have something else. Something that will grab me and make me want to stay until the end. Something that will make me sorry that the evening's end had arrived.

I don't know what that "something" is, but "The Lady With All The Answers" had it.

Graphics courtesy of ACT Theatre

Show #44 "Yankee Tavern" at ACT Theatre

It was practically a perfect evening at the theatre for us tonight. Everything went as it should.

First, the drive on I-5 from Tacoma to downtown Seattle was a breeze. Traffic proceeding north (as we were) was swift and clear. However, traffic going south was almost at a standstill. Pity the southbound driver.....glad it wasn't us.

Next, we found a terrific parking spot in the garage next to ACT Theatre. Admittedly, I ALWAYS find a great spot to park there, especially since my season tickets are for Wednesday evenings.....but that's beside the point. The parking spot was "spot on!"

Then, I got to see a show, "Yankee Tavern" by Steven Dietz, at my favorite theatre venue in town: The Allen theatre. Yes, this is ACT Theatre's mainstage space, and I love it. Randy and I have terrific seats this year, in the second row, and the viewing was ideal.

Then, I saw a funny, engaging, makes-you-think show about such hilarious (?) topics as conspiracy theorists, Sept. 11, marriage, drinking, seeing dead people and graduate school. ACT Theatre, you've done it again!

Next, I got to watch some performances by actors who inspire me. I saw a relatively simple set design that made me see the possibilities (and genius) of simplicity. I enjoyed a script that made you laugh, made you think and made you want to say, "where did you hear THAT?"

Finally, Randy and I practically flew home on our southbound journey on I-5. There was some minor traffic revisions driving through South King County into Pierce County, but nothing worth mentioning. And the northbound traffic? Slow as molasses.

Yep, practically a perfect evening.

"Practically?" What made it less than perfect?

Well....I guess I was having such a good time tonight, I wanted it to go on a bit longer. I hated to see it end. That was its only flaw....but that's good "flaw" to have.

Photo courtesy of ACT Theatre and photographer Chris Bennion

Show #33 "The Female of the Species" at ACT Theatre

The women's movement has sure come a long way.

First, women fought to win to right to vote. This was followed by the right to run for public office, to join the military and to enter the work force.

Heck, we even won the right to our own cigarette brand (hence, the slogan by Virginia Slims, "You've come a long way, Baby") so we can develop lung cancer and blow out second hand smoke with equality. What more could the feminist movement achieve?

Well, Baby, we've now got our own theatrical farce.

And what a great farce it is. "The Female of the Species" is a delectable dish of half-crazed characters delivering emotionally-volcanic monologues in the midst of gun-waving battles and delicious temper tantrums. And that was just the first two characters who appeared on stage.

Never mind the over-wrought daughter, the manically wimpy son-in-law, the hyper-activist caveman cab driver and the motor-mouthed gay book publisher......

Ridiculous stereotypes? Insulting characterizations? You bet. But, folks, that's the whole point.

The feminist movement is no longer only made up of the activists without a sense of humor. Those who have come before us, the marching Suffragette and the bra-burner, are no longer on the cover of Life Magazine and the subject of political rallies and Sunday sermons.

We've come a long way since then. We can now poke fun at the women who paved the way for the many choices and opportunities that 21st century females can now enjoy.

And the best part of this play is this: it pokes fun at women (and men) of all walks of life. It laughs at the man-hating crusader, the male chauvinist, the "sensitive man," the housewife and stay-at-home mother, the career woman and the college co-ed. Nothing is sacred here, and that is how it should be.

Good farce is even-handed. It shouldn't exist to make fun of only one side of an issue. If it did, then it is only thinly-veiled propaganda disguised as theatre. Sadly, too much of theatre performed in the Seattle/Tacoma region suffers from this offense.

But this? THIS is good stuff. Thank you, ACT, for giving us this gift. It helps me keep the faith in local theatre and its willingness to present different ideas, not just the politically correct ideas.

Bravo.

Graphics courtesy of ACT Theatre

Show #25 "The Trip to Bountiful" at ACT Theatre

It was like coming home again.

The familiar sights, the beauty of the classic architecture, the energizing walk up the welcoming promenade.

It had only been a few years since I called that place "my favorite," but I felt as though I had been gone for a long, long time. Too long, in fact.

What in the world am I talking about here? Did my evening of viewing Horton Foote's "The Trip to Bountiful" make me pine (like the story's main character)for a hometown from my long ago youth?

Ummm....no. It isn't what you think.

I'm talking about my return this year as a season subscriber to the wonderful ACT Theatre in Seattle. The Allen, their marvelous theatre-in-the-round mainstage, is my favorite performance space in the Seattle-Tacoma region. Not a bad seat in the house. A terrific view for every audience member. A large mainstage venue with an intimate, small theater feeling.

It was good to be back home.

It also helped that the play was very, very good. Truth be told, Randy and I were almost bracing ourselves for a dreary evening about a depressed old lady mourning over her long lost hometown named Bountiful, TX. Were we in for a surprise!

I found myself settling quite nicely in her shoes, feeling her longing and relating to her wistful remembrances of home. But unlike her story where "home" isn't exactly what she romanticized, my return "home" was everything I remembered.

I love theatre in the round! I love being so close to the action that you forget you're simply watching a show, not witnessing a personal event.

I know not all the shows this season will take place in The Allen Theatre. Some will be at their Bullitt Cabaret and others will be in The Falls Theatre. Maybe I will fall in love with those spaces as well.

But I doubt it.

I love The Allen. It's where I want to see shows. As an actor, it's where I wish I could perform one day.

After all, as Dorothy (in The Wizard of Oz) would say, (to mix my show business metaphors), "there's no place like..." Well... you know.

production photo courtesy of ACT Theatre