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Tuesday, September 27, 2005
‘Affluenza’ at Jewish Theatre
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATRE REVIEW. “Affluenza.” Jewish Theatre of the South. Through Oct. 2.
The Jewish Theatre of the South’s virtuoso comic ensemble tosses around the rhymed couplets of James Sherman’s farce about American materialism as if they were multicolored balls in an intricate game.
The story, about a group jockeying to inherit an older man’s wealth, updates Moliere’s themes of greed, culpability and self-deception in plays like “Tartuffe” and “The Misanthrope” to our feel-good, consume-now society. Sherman’s vital Americanese displays all of the lightness, gaiety and poetic skill of the French satirist’s classic French.
Establishing herself as one of Atlanta’s best young comic actresses, Megan Hayes portrays the manipulative gold-digger Dawn with vitality and verbal dexterity. And David Marshall Silverman’s Jerome exudes the grandiose ego and Internet-numbed inertia of many young American men.
The action takes place in a Chicago penthouse, and allusions to the Windy City’s hustling, boisterous personality energize the rhythmic language. As the conflict between the higher and lower instincts of human nature unfolds, you can almost see Chicago’s exuberant chronicler Saul Bellow standing in the corner wearing a lascivious grin and a cocked fedora, a trench coat tossed over one shoulder.
Another presence inhabits the comedy. “Affluenza” begins with a jazzy version of Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale,” and the world-weary master would have loved Sherman’s wit and jaded outlook, transformed finally by human kindness.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays. Through Oct. 2. $18-$28. Jewish Theatre of the South, Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. 770-395-2654. www.jplay.org.
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‘The Seagull’ at PushPush
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. “The Seagull.” PushPush Theater. Through Oct. 1
Masha snorts coke and sports a nose ring. She’s bored with Medvedenko and can’t conquer the brooding Konstantin. No wonder poor Konstantin keeps crawling under the stage like a frightened turtle. Everyone, including his mother Irina, mocks his performance art.
Sounds like PushPush Theater has decided to update “The Seagull.” But you don’t have to be a Chekhov maven to appreciate how the Decatur ensemble uses its collaborative method to sharpen the sting of this dark comedy of vanity, shattered dreams and suicide.
Guided by PushPush artistic director Tim Habeger, this adaptation turns the somber Russian chamber piece into the equivalent of a garage band with a droning tendency. While Jacob Gentry’s film sequences are stylish and beautifully crafted, the play sometimes feels inert and self-consciously talky. The production can be clunky, too, as when the actors announce their entrances by opening doors that jar the senses with daylight and noise.
But Shelby Hofer (Masha) and Randy Havens (Medvedenko) —- two of the city’s more quirky and under-appreciated character actors —- really shine here. And Carol Mitchell-Leon invests her Irina with an attitude of insufferability and imperiousness that will make children of bad parents feel painfully at home.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 5 p.m. Sundays. Through Oct. 1. $12-$16. PushPush Theater. 121 New St., Decatur. 404-377-6332, www.pushpushtheater.com.
