THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 1, 1995 TAG: 9506010053
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, THEATER CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
``PTERODACTYLS'' is to family comedy what the Marquis de Sade was to wholesome sweetness.
This is the family, if not from hell, at least in purgatory.
They are the Duncans of mainline Philadelphia. Mom drinks. Dad forgets things. Sister hasn't been quite right since she swallowed a shoe at age 8. The prodigal son comes home and announces that he has AIDS.
The point here, if we must have one, is that this type of upper crust, phony, nouveau riche family is as extinct as the dinosaur bones in their living room. Playwright Nicky Silver seems to be telling us that humans, if they keep up this kind of self-destructive behavior, may become as rare as the pterodactyls of his title. If his script doesn't make it clear, the program notes do.
This is the kind of way-out comedy that the Generic Theater does best. It's a bit daring and quite a bit off-center. For those who have stuck with this adventurous little theater since it was in a woebegone corner of the Norfolk Arena, this theatrical place has become a haven for the unusual.
Playwright Silver is closer to the rancor of Joe Orton than he is to the absurdity of Ionesco, but he borrows liberally from both. This play is not terribly original but it is nonetheless terribly entertaining.
Just when we think the writer is trying too hard to trot out as many taboos as possible, he saves himself by showing a bit of compassion for the sorry clan. This levity saves his play from becoming merely a smarty-pants display of daring.
Director Bob Nelson has chosen a hard-working cast that wisely realizes that farce should be played realistically. The pacing is a bit too slow, giving us too long to absorb the shocks. This is a factor that will surely be eliminated as the run continues.
We could also use a few winks to let us know that this is a comedy. Not until Act II did the opening night audience seem to get the idea that it was OK to laugh at this sad bunch.
Kent Collins, as the returning son, is given many of the more challenging monologues. To some degree, he has to carry the play. With a resume centered in dance, he fulfills the dramatic promise that he showed with the Actors' Theater earlier this season, and proves he can handle an assignment this demanding.
Victoria Blake, as the nutty sister, Emma, has the more comically showy role and milks it for all it's worth. She plays a young woman who can't remember things that happened minutes before, and is mightily concerned that her skin is too tight.
``It's the skin of a young child that has been stretched over my whole body,'' she tells, trying to squirm out of it as if it were an inconvenient girdle.
Carin Cowell's portrayal of the tipsy and arrogant mom is perhaps the evening's most broad comedic contribution. This is a woman who is more concerned with sit-down dinners than she is with her children's welfare. When her son finds dinosaur bones in the back yard, she merely comments that ``it is my child's grotesque monument to the transience of everything.''
Sam Hakim, an actor whose credits traverse the history of the local theater scene, is saddled with the more serious role of the father who gets his own childhood confused with that of his children. He does about all that could be done with the rather mechanical role.
Elwood Robinson's set for the Duncan home is pleasing to the eye, and Denise Wade's costumes avoid the temptation to be overly wacky. It is entirely appropriate that both maintain the realistic bent.
For the shy, it would be best to stay away. Some of the language and sexual situations could offend, but that's exactly what they're meant to do. If you're torn between this play and Aunt Fanny's quilting party, stick with the quilting party.
The most impressive thing about this outing is that director Nelson never resorts to begging for laughs. They're there anyway - couched in sadness. ILLUSTRATION: THEATER REVIEW
What: ``Pterodactyls,'' the comedy by Nicky Silver
Where: Generic Theater, 912 W. 21st St., Norfolk
Who: Directed by Bob Nelson, featuring Kent Collins, Victoria
Blake, Carin Cowell, Jim Pitchford, Sam Hakim
When: Tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.,
continuing through June 18
How much: $8 to $10; call 441-2160
by CNB