Eugene weekly., October 20, 2011, Page 29, Image 29

theater
A Glitch in Time
Communicating Doors offers old-fashioned farce
with a temporal twist
S
ince the dawn of philosophical
inquisition, the question of time
— and, more specifi cally, time
travel — has been the sticky caramel
center inside the bite-sized chocolate of
conceptual contemplation. Everyone,
from St. Augustine to stoned sophomores,
has wondered: What is time? And what
would happen if I went back in time and,
say, killed my parents?
Such quandaries are no less
intellectually stimulating for being
physically impossible; they are also,
when you think on it, quite hilarious,
which explains the titillation to be found
in British playwright Alan Ayckbourn’s
time-jumping farce, Communicating
Doors, now at the Very Little Theatre.
Directed by Karen Scheeland,
Communicating Doors is, for all its
homicidal panic and theoretic fl apdoodle,
a very brisk and lighthearted romp —
something along the lines of Oscar Wilde
meets Rod Serling, with a little Back to the
Future thrown in for erotic zest. The plot
is a cat’s cradle woven of Silly Putty; the
story jumps forward and back, in 20-year
increments, between the years 2014 and
1974, as various characters are transported
into ever more absurd situations by means
of a magic vestibule in a hotel suite.
At the crux of this temporal turnstile
is Poopay, aka Phoebe (Leslie Murray),
a “special sex consultant” whose john,
Reece (Michael Walker), seeks an
unexpected form of release — he wants
to confess rather than undress, to dump on
her rather than hump on her. It turns out
Reece, like some latter-day Bluebeard,
has murdered a couple of wives, fi rst
Jessica (Naomi Ruiz-Todd) and then
Ruella (Kathy James LaMontagne).
This information recasts Poopay in
the role of sleuth, as she repeatedly trips
through time in an effort to save lives,
untangle her own identity and discover
what the deal is with Reece’s malignantly
unctuous business partner, Julian (Michael
P. Watkins). Trailing Poopay in her pursuit
of the truth is Harold, the bumbling house
detective (Achilles Massahos).
Unlike the Terminator movies, where
time is traversed to save humanity, nothing
much is at stake in Communicating
Doors. Shakespeare used mistaken
identity and mixed messages to boost
his comic enterprise, and Ayckbourn’s
time machine is similarly just a device
in the service of plot twists and punch
lines. And that’s fi ne. Peel back the
sci-fi conceit, and you’ll fi nd an old-
fashioned farce, full of bawdy repartee,
promiscuous pratfalls and lots of tick-
tock wordplay.
Communicating Doors is a solid
piece of crowd pleasing — silly but not
insubstantial, frolicsome without being
forgettable. There are worse ways to
waste your time. — Rick Levin
Communicating Doors plays through Oct. 29 at the Very
Little Theatre; for times and tickets, visit TheVLT.com
or call 344-7751.
Nazis and Jazz Hands
Cabaret pushes the envelope on sex,
glitz & tyranny
O
pening to shocked audiences
in 1966, Cabaret was one of
the fi rst musicals to combine
social commentary with song and dance.
Set amid the intra-war turmoil in Weimar
Germany, the characters drink, dance
and have fun while around them the
Nazis ascend to power. Stuffed with
razzle-dazzle dance numbers and seedy
sexuality, Cabaret is simultaneously
entertaining and uncomfortable, drawing
you in and then smacking you with your
own compliance.
Director Peg Major obviously
appreciates the richness and nuance of
this diffi cult script. There are a number of
small details that elevate her production.
Fe02’s set is a succulent red and gold, art
nouveau-inspired masterpiece. Major has
chosen to cast women of myriad shapes
and sizes for the Kit Kat Klub girls, and
the realness of these women lends a
vivid, earthy feel to their overtly sexual
dance numbers.
Speaking of vivid, earthy sexuality,
Ecaterina Lynn sings the deep alto
of Sally Bowels with electricity; the
audience literally leaned forward as she
belted out “Life is a Cabaret.” Kory
Weimer is magnetically creepy as the
Master of Ceremonies, moving easily
from simple, silly songs like ‘Two
Ladies” to the morally obscene ‘If You
Could See Her.” And Tracy Nygard
brings an interesting complexity to the
sailor-seducing Fraulein Kost.
Supporting these performers is a
vocally strong ensemble. Unfortunately,
however, some of the actors seemed to
be performing in an entirely different
play than the one Major has envisioned.
Pacing drags at times, and I had the urge
to set a quicker metronome just behind
the curtain to speed things up.
If you haven’t seen Cabaret (and no, the
fi lm doesn’t count), take this opportunity
— it’s a fascinating play. Hopefully,
those performers who didn’t seem on
board opening night will warm up as the
run continues. Just don’t expect to get
comfortable in your seat. — Anna Grace
Cabaret runs 8pm Friday-Saturday and 2:30pm Sunday
through Nov. 6, at Cottage Theatre in Cottage Grove;
info and tickets at cottagetheatre.org or 541-942-8001.
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