By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO — Sometimes the most unlikely set of characters turn out to be ‘best friends’. Take for example Clyde (Steven Lone) and Jack (Brian Mackey and Connie (Rhianna Basore) and Lucy (Sara Beth Morgan) in Bob Glaudini’s Jack Goes Boating now in an entertaining, charming and yet thoughtful production at ion Theatre.
If opposites attract, as the saying goes, this is a classic case.
Lucy and Clyde are seasoned lovers and seasoned warriors when on drugs. They have been together five years and barely holding. Clyde is a limousine driver and Lucy works as a grief counselor/ mortuary planner. She and Connie are co-workers (though Lucy just got Connie the job) and Clyde and Jack have been working together for some time now. Most of the action takes place in Lucy and Clyde’s upstairs flat in New York City where they buzz guests in with a vigorous, “YO!”
Jack, on the other hand, has just met Connie and he is smitten just by the way he looks and acts, but he’s a difficult read. Jack is kind of clueless, speechless and tongue tied and that’s what makes his character evoke so much compassion on the one hand and yet gives him the charm of an innocent babe on the other. All the while, though you want to scream out, “Jack! Get a clue!” “Say Something!” “Spit it out!” (Seen any Mamet lately?)
And by the way, Jack has a thing for all things Rastafarian; smokes a lot of pot, listens to “Rivers of Babylon” for encouragement and wears (really lousy looking) dreadlocks. All four are potheads circling around more serious stuff, especially Clyde and Lucy who seem to need a boost more often that not to make their lives a little more doable.
Connie has more stuff going on in her head than ‘Carters has little liver pills’ and Jack is willing to take them on one little shtick at a time. But for the time being, he promises to cook dinner for her because she reveals to him that no one had ever done that for her. After months of practicing and prepping a recipe from a chef friend of Lucy and Clyde, the Big Canola, (has more meaning after you see the play) the big night is one big, well… Do see it.
Ion Theatre has been taking on some pretty heady stuff after its initial reprisal of All In The Timing so this is a welcome relief for anyone looking for something a little different off center and (again I use the word) charming.
Jack Goes Boating is in good hands under director Claudio Raygoza’s careful eye. Every nuance, shrug and pause is perfectly timed. Each of the characters is clearly defined and not one missed a beat the night I saw the show. Steven Lone and Sara Beth Morgan could well be the push me pull you couple, they are so believable, while Mackey and Basore struggle to complete a thought that barely makes a sentence, yet they do make headway before the night is over.
New York accents (from a Massachusetts gal) seemed right on target, with both Raygoza and partner Glenn Paris who designed video, slides lighting and scenic design, set the stage for a creative and captivating evening of theatre.
In case the name of the show sounds familiar, it was recently released at Landmark in Hillcrest. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman also played Jack in the off-Broadway show.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: September 15th –October 3rd
Organization: ion Theatre Company
Phone: 619-600-5020
Production Type: Comedy
Where: 3704 6th Ave., San Diego, Ca 92103
Ticket Prices: $10.00-$25.00
Web: iontheatre.com
Venue: BlkBox@6th Avenue
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Theatre critic Davis is based in San Diego