By Cynthia Citron
NORTH HOLLYWOOD — As ratings go, two out of three isn’t bad. And so, two good plays out of three new one-acts making their debut with the Vagabond Players makes for an entertaining interlude at the theater. The evening’s offerings are collectively called It’s Dark Out, and the plays are, indeed, dark.
In the first one, Denial, a 15-minute piece by Clive Ashborn, the playwright himself appears in some unnamed place, dazed and bewildered. He has no idea where he is or how he got there. He sits down beside another man (Michael James Thompson) who begins to badger him with questions until slowly the bewildered man remembers the circumstances that brought him to this place.
This short drama is by far the best of the three. Well written, beautifully acted, and with a surprising twist at the end, it is well worth a visit to the Raven Theatre in North Hollywood to see.
The second production, The Devil on This Earth, by Janet Kenny, takes place in a cleverly conceived minimalist setting: a row of steel poles dividing the stage lengthwise, with two short lines of poles running perpendicular to them, and a set of boxes dressed with blankets and pillows in the upstage corners.
These are two jail cells in which two women are housed. Woman 1 (Catherine Michaels) is believed to have killed her own child. Or is she shielding her boyfriend? Woman 2 (a brilliant Cindy Dellinger) is there because, in a fit of outrage, she had attempted to kill the first woman. (Think Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald.)
Unsuccessful in her murder attempt, Woman 2 has apparently determined to drive her adjacent cellmate insane. To this end, she talks continuously, night and day, depriving Woman 1 of sleep, of peace, and of solitude. Ironically, you’ll enjoy the conversation, even if Woman 1 doesn’t.
Over time, Woman 2 is visited in jail by a brusque, snarky pro bono lawyer (Blake Harrison), her bedeviled husband (the excellent Michael James Thompson), a priest (Clive Ashborn), and a friend (Neita Lawrence) who seems to imply that Woman 2 has been planted there by some unnamed agency. To get a confession out of Woman 1? We don’t know, and it really doesn’t matter. It’s a masterful set of performances and a tour de force for Cindy Dellinger and director Lewis Hauser.
The third play, Little Fortress by Stephen Patrick, is not even a near miss. A mishmash set in 1938 Germany, it deals with a beleaguered screenwriter (Ken Bernfield) who, in order to fulfill his manic obsession with getting his film produced, sacrifices his Jewish wife.
In addition to the Nazis, however, there are two additional villains in this piece: the playwright, whose work is confused, poorly written, and totally lacking in believable emotions on anybody’s part, and the husband/screenwriter (Bernfield), who is not credible, not sympathetic, and unvarying in his bland portrayal of this supposedly conflicted man.
Back to the drawing board, Mr. Patrick.
“It’s Dark Out” will continue at The Raven Playhouse, 5233 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through March 31st. Call 818-206-4000 for tickets.
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Citron is Los Angeles bureau chief of San Diego Jewish World. She may be contacted at cynthia.citron@sdjewishworld.com