By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO—Ion theatre company is reprising Franz Xavier Kroetz’ one-woman show, Request Programme. In 2008 Ion mounted this piece in their little theatre adjacent to the Trolley stop in Allied Gardens. Now in their new space on 6th Avenue with the stage much closer to the audience, Linda Libby reenacts a night in the life of Miss Rasch. Libby won the San Diego Theatre Critics Award for her amazing performance.
Franz Xavier Kroetz is a German playwright, actor, film director and fringe fest favorite, whose works have been produced by Sam Boardman-Jacobs and Oren Jacoby. In this his solo piece, Libby one of San Diego’s premiere actors is simply incredible. She plays Miss Rasch, a lonesome, alone and disenfranchised spinster in mid life whose existence is dominated by repetition, emptiness and boredom from a job spent all day at a stationary factory.
From the time she arrives home from work until she gets up for work the next day her life is spent in a claustrophobic apartment (Claudio Raygoza). She talks to no one, not a peep or sound, and from the looks of things, her one kind of recreation is listening nightly to her favorite radio show, ‘Request Programme’.
Over the next hour, without a word delivered, just facial expressions, she goes through her nightly routine in silence. She methodically hangs up her coat and purse. She goes through her junk mail. She changes into a comfortable sweater, eats her dinner, smokes a cigarette, washes her one dish, takes out a rug she is hooking, goes to the bathroom, makes a cup of tea with 2 cookies placed neatly in the saucer, smokes another cigarette and listens to her favorite radio show. She rinses out her hose, changes into her nightgown ready for bed but not before setting out the dishes for her breakfast and her work clothes for the next day.
Sometimes she looks absolutely absent of anything, sometimes mild amusement as when she hears a piece of music on the radio she likes or a screwing up of her eyebrows when she can’t seem to understand why the announcer of Request Programme (J.D. Steyers) chose to play “Slaughter on 10th Avenue”. She’s satisfied, or so it appears, with the other selections, a Chopin nocturne, a Schubert rondo and a Mozart piece. She looks as if she’s surprised when the program comes to an abrupt end. Did her favorite piece not get played?
Yet, while the music may be her connection to the outside world or a just diversion away from her boring life and certainly company for her, it’s her mundane routine that captures the evening, so concise, mechanical, methodical and deliberate is she, that the feeling of doom creeps into the psyche sooner rather than later. There are times a pin could have been heard dropping in the theatre if it happened. We were advised to turn our cell phone rings and vibrate off. The silence is deafening.
Under Glenn Paris’ deft direction, Libby is picture perfect as she obsesses about her cleanliness, the way she sets the table, the fuss over a blemish on her cheek, her making a sandwich, frowning over a mistake in the pattern of her hooked rug, heating and pouring tea on her hot plate, going to the bathroom, checking the windows, hanging her clothes in the armoire and picking out her next days outfit, absent mindedly flicking lint from the jacket, setting the table for her breakfast, choosing colors for her hooked rug, scrubbing out her kitchen sink after each bit of food she consumes, repeatedly washing her hands, applying foot cream to her feet, clipping her toenails, placing her glass of water next to her bed, curling her hair, and finally getting into bed with a book she’s not into.
All this without a word and with emotions suppressed for the entire evening until finally, with the look of a hawk staring off into space after she finishes off the bottle of pills she systematically takes when sleep refuses to come, the house goes dark. Libby’s performance is a must see, her character is as unsettling as it is cause for concern in this production at Ion Theatre. It is certainly worth a try.
If something different fits your menu, this one should do fine. It is here for a limited run. Check box office for times.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: through Jan 28th
Organization: ion Theatre Company
Phone: 619-600-5020
Production Type: drama
Where: 3704 Sixth Ave, San Diego, 92103
Ticket Prices: $20.00-$24.00
Web: iontheatre.com
Venue: BLKBOX
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Davis, a San Diego-based theatre reviewer, may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com