By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO — Like it or not, we all have a mortal time clock ticking somewhere in our bodies. For most it’s located in or around the heart. In playwright Marisa Wegrzny thought provoking but off the wall dark comedy “Hickorydickory”, the Wicker Family of ‘Wicker’s Watch & Clock Repair shop in Chicago, are not only surrounded by clocks in their home/repair shop but they have a family secret about, well, clocks; yup the ones ticking in our hearts and then some misplaced ones in our brains.
Moxie Theatre, the little engine that could theatre, helmed and run by the Moxie’s (an all women force), is presenting this West Coast premiere of Wegrzny’s Wendy Wasserstein’s 2009 Prize for Drama “Hickorydickory” with full throttle under the deft direction of Jennifer Eve Thorn and with an outstanding and versatile cast at that.
Remember the Nursery Rhyme, “Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock, the clock struck one, mouse ran down, Hickory Dickory Dock”? There isn’t much to it as a child’s rhyme, but using this as a backdrop, the tale woven by Wegrzny takes on a broader meaning for Dale (Erin Peterson) who hears ticking in her head all the time. In fact, she goes so far as to let us know that she even knows when that ticking will stop. Heavy-duty stuff, that but a little weird, don’t you think?
It all fits though. From that bit of information, “Hickorydickory” takes us down into the Twilight Zone of Rod Serling’s world of the ‘different, the bizarre’ after Dale hands over an engraved pocket watch to watch repair apprentice Rowan (Justin Lang) to open and possibly fix. The watch has the name Cari Lee (hip hoppin’ Samantha Ginn) on it. Oblivious to the Wicker Family history of dealing with internal timepieces, he obliges only to find that once opened, like the heart, it oozes blood when pricked, drilled into or otherwise tinkered with.
We also learn that Cari Lee is Dale’s estranged mother not Kate (first-rate Jo Anne Glover) whom we meet at the top of the show urging Dale to be to school on time. It seems that Dale’s father Jimmy (easy going John Anderson) and Cari Lee were seventeen when Dale was born. Cari Lee is stuck in her seventeen-year-old time zone having never aged because her mortal clock stopped when Jimmy’s parents removed it from her head. His parent’s specialty was extraction. Somehow her clock got broken when it was removed and never got fixed until now. If it sounds strange, it is.
Cari Lee is back on the scene because she knows someone is messing around with her mortal clock. “Somebody opened it! I felt it. I was banging on my drums in a garage when I felt that whoosh through my whole body and I thought it was you” (meaning Jimmy).
Now it’s Dale’s turn. After reassuring Cari Lee, Kate and Dale that he still has his parent’s tools, potions and instruction book, Jimmy agrees to remove Dale’s mortal clock from her brain so she can ‘stop hearing when she’s going to die’. “I want this stupid clock out of my head”…“It’s all I’ve ever heard. I’m dying every second”.
The story goes back and forth in time as we get to know the principal players, both young and old and for good measure Jimmy’s parents Helen and Richard (both played by John Anderson and Jo Anne Glover). At times figuring out who, what and when all these characters were and are and in which time zone they lived became distracting but after a while the brain shifted as needed.
Never veering far from the cliff’s edge, director Jennifer Eve Thorn takes the audience through several ‘clock removal operations’ on Jennifer Brawn Gitting’s moveable clock like turnstile located in the center of the stage, without blinking an eyelash. When Jo Anne Glover’s Kate climbs up on the watch repair table sitting on that floor dial, now used for this other worldly or ‘fifth dimension’ operation, the whole audience held its collective breath.
There is no question that the play is engaging and the acting is top notch. For starters playwright Wegrzyn must have had Samantha Ginn in mind, as the off the wall, no holds barred Cari Lee. If she didn’t she should have. She owns that role and her comic timing is absolutely on the nose. As Dale’s mother she swings between some hidden, yet immature maternal instinct and then back to the crazy teenager whose brain and body inhabit her.
As Dale, her seventeen-year-old daughter, Erin Peterson shows the maturity her mother so dearly lacks but she too finds a certain maturity and sweetness that draws us in to her troubled world. Her partner in crime Justin Lang is another natural as Rowan the Irish apprentice and Dale’s love interest. In other scenes he plays the younger version of Jimmy with ease and flexibility.
John Anderson is just right as the shop owner and overly protective and loving father and husband who sometimes doesn’t have a clue as to the wants and needs of his current wife Kate or his distraught daughter, but does come through in the end. His reassuring ease gives us a sense of security that all will be right in the world.
Anderson’s versatility and comfortable manner make him a credible force but when he goes about performing surgery on his wife Kate to remove her mortal clock and he hovers over her body with a hand held drill, it’s funnier seen than reading about. It’s not quite as comical though as when a serious looking Jo Anne Glover as Kate prepares herself for her operation. Glover, co-founder of Moxie is always at the top of her game and in this production as both Kate and Helen, Jimmy’s mother (in earlier scenes) she is a pro to watch.
Mia Bain designed the lighting and Matt Lescault-Wood the sound design adding to the overall perfection of the evening. Jennifer Brawn Gittings’ set is jam packed with clocks of all sizes, shapes and times on them. None has the same time. What a nightmare that would be.
But then again, what an outlandish scenario Wegrzyn created, at least for those whose time is running out but are able to give and take of their own personal inner workings and rearrange their lives to accommodate those they loved. It’s somewhat of an otherworldly idea but one that many have contemplated I’m sure.
Wegrzyn’s yarn is part sci-fi, part fantasy part funny, part disturbing as in it makes you squirm a bit, and is somewhat of a challenge. It also gives one pause as to how we could/should/would live our lives. And if we did know how long we had to live and if we had the chance to give extra years to our loved ones, at the expense of shaving a few off of our own, would we? Could we? Should we?
In a clever but subtle move all the Moxie’s wore pocket watches around their necks on opening night in tribute to the project’s launching. Nice touch, gals.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through Dec. 16th
Organization: Moxie Theatre
Phone: 858-598-7620
Production Type: Dark Comedy
Where: 6663 El Cajon Blvd.
Ticket Prices: $20.00-$27.00
Web: moxietheatre.com
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Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com