THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 21, 1995 TAG: 9509210049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MONTAGUE GAMMON III, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
THE OPENING night performance of ``The Glass Mendacity'' stayed just a step and a half, or a times just a step, away from the comic excellence that this script and this Generic Theater production will be able to reach.
There were plenty of chuckles, but the belly laughs that this show should provoke were rare. The cast gave a cool, literate and competent rendition of a play that would be better served if the players would throw themselves headlong into the broadly drawn satire.
The script, a group effort by the Chicago-based Illegitimate Players, grafts exaggerated elements of ``The Glass Menagerie'' and ``A Streetcar named Desire'' onto a loosely jointed framework from ``Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' to spoof all three Tennessee Williams classics.
The characters are a gaggle of loopy misfits, eccentrics, neurotics, poseurs and clowns. Each of these laughable loons is easily recognizable as an utterly logical extension of the tragic characters Williams created.
There is Big Daddy DuBois, dying not of cancer but of something much more innocuous, though more unpleasant for those who stand to his windward side.
There is his daughter-in-law Maggie, forever trying to find the right metaphor for her situation. ``An ant on a soda can? No,'' she muses. There is his wife, Amanda DuBois, whose gentleman callers increase in number with each retelling of their visits.
Brutish Stanley Kowalski and delusional Blanche; neurotic, crippled Laura; and the aggressively normal Mitch O'Connor join the rest for Big Daddy's birthday, along with drink-sodden Brick, as taciturn as his baked clay namesake.
Among a talented cast, Victoria Blake and Rebecca Williams are the most memorable. Blake delineates Blanche with a mixture of broad gestures and a girlish tone, getting closest to the satirical spirit of the work.
Williams turns in an especially polished performance as Maggie, though her precise technique comes across as a bit too reserved. Even so, she manages to command the focus of the stage frequently.
In the role of Big Daddy, Jim Luker finds a welcome variation from his usual foppish elegance. Paula Vaiden, Wade Brinkley and Arthur Fichter are all more than serviceable in the parts of Laura, Mitch and Stanley. Fichter is especially sharp in a neatly detailed bit where he acts out Stanley's ape-like nature.
What the cast and director Gerald Pope need to find is the emotional and physical abandon described by the term ``over the top.'' Then ``The Glass Mendacity'' will grow from witty and amusing to absolutely hilarious and will appeal not only to people familiar with Tennessee Williams' work but anyone who likes a good laugh. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
THEATER REVIEW
What: ``The Glass Mendacity,'' satiric comedy created by the
Illegitimate Players
When: 8 p.m. tonight, Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; also
Sept. 28-30 and Oct. 5-7
Where: Generic Theater, 912 W. 21st St., Norfolk
Tickets: $10-$12
Call: 441-2160
by CNB