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Writing for Us
A CurtainUp New Jersey Review
Character Assassins
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You're sinking in the quagmire of your own private Idaho. —Frank
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Warren Kelley and Brad Fraizer
(Photo credit: SuzAnne Barabas) |
Character Assassins begins with theatre critic Simon Frank (Warren Kelley) sitting at his desk in the sunken living room of his New York City apartment (handsomely furnished by designer Jessica Parks). The weather being what it is, the sound of torrential rain, flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder, however, is nothing compared to the sound of someone breaking through the door to the apartment.
What can the distraught fellow do but run to the phone and dial 911 and yell for help? Not much as a hooded man with a gun enters and forces the frightened critic to his knees, waving the gun and insisting he bark like a dog, among other things. The hooded man is in a rage and determined to humiliate and then perhaps kill the critic who is groveling at his feet. But wait! The insults suddenly sound familiar to Frank, like dialogue from a play by Mamet. The jig is up and the intruder reveals himself as Jonathan Burns (Brad Fraizer), a young playwright whose play has just been unmercifully trashed by Frank.
Once championed by Frank as an up-and-coming playwright, Burns feels betrayed by the critic who he now feels has destroyed his career. What is Burns hoping to accomplish by this violent attack? And what can Frank do or say in his own defense, or about the integrity of his profession? There's plenty to be said by both as their confrontation becomes a platform for a debate on what qualifies as art and who is qualified as its arbiter.
Here is where Schulman takes the lead with a knee-jerk conceit that provides plenty of laughs and a surprise twist at the end. Schulman, who wrote the book for The Fartiste, the winner of Best Musical at the 2006 New York City Fringe Festival, draws on and uses virtually every cliché in the book to validate the position of each man. If the plot takes a while to become even a little bit intriguing, the actors, under the astute direction of Dana Benningfield, are certainly aware of how important it is to keep their verbal sparring at a feverish pitch.
The rat-a-tat-tat of so much testy talk can become tiresome. A sexual dalliance is mercifully aborted, as is a drunken brawl in the light of the constant consumption of liqueur. But just as our obligatory patience begins to wear thin, Frank and Burns devise an outrageous, implausible, inane plan for another play that provides a temporary truce. But a play with characters consigned to break the fourth wall, we quickly become suspicious that things are not what they seem or people who they seem.
Kelly, who earlier this year played the title role in the Abingdon Theatre production of Engaging Shaw, gets another opportunity to draw from his growing collection of affectations. In his able hands, when he isn't pouring himself another whiskey, he is the epitome of an irrevocably erudite and despicably condescending critic, presumably inspired by John Simon. Fraizer, who is making his New Jersey Repertory Company debut, balances the prerequisite discharge of irrational babble with an engaging, however deplorable, disregard for ethics, as the opportunistic Burn.
In calling Character Assassins "a temper tantrum in eighty-two minutes, " I'm simply quoting a line of dialogue that is aptly designated to describe this play which on the night of its world premiere was actually one hundred and five minutes including an intermission. So who is telling the truth, the critic or the playwright?
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Character Assassins By Charlie Schulman Directed by Dana Benningfield Cast: Brad Fraizer (Jonathan Burns), Warren Kelley (Simon Frank) Scenic Design: Jessica Parks Lighting Design: Jill Nagle Costume Design: Patricia e. Doherty Sound Design: Jack O'Brien Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes including intermission New Jersey Repertory Company, 179 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ (732)=229- 3166 Tickets ($40) Performances, Sundays through Thursdays at 8 PM Opened 09/25/10 Closes 10/31/10 Review by Simon Saltzman based on performance 09/25/10 |
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