SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp Los Angeles Review
Surf Report
|
There is something that surfing teaches you. That you just can't control things. — -Bruce |
Linda Gehringer and Gregory Harrison
(Photo: Craig Schwartz) )
|
In Surf Report, Bruce (played by Gregory Harrison) is a very wealthy venture capitalist specializing in biotechnology. His assistant Judith (Linda Gehringer) is his right hand. She's been working for him for so many years that she knows every detail of his life. She's an excellent manager, but a bit obsessive. She's so fixated on making Bruce's life run smoothly that she's neglected her own family: husband Hal (Matthew Arkin) and adult daughter/aspiring visual artist Bethany (Zoe Chao), who now lives in Brooklyn and hates her mother and her SoCal upbringing with a passion.
Naturally, worlds collide. Hal's failing health forces Judith to re-examine her priorities, while bringing Bethany back home for a few days. Bethany is desperate to return to New York where she's gunning for a prestigious internship with an internationally famous photographer, but finds separating from her roots is harder than she thought. Especially when Jena (Liv Rooth), an old acquaintance from high school, insists on becoming her friend. When Judith comes to Bruce with a proposal, she's shocked to discover that she's somehow crossed a line, and that she isn't indispensable after all.
Interwoven into this is a careful and lovingly textured view of surf culture: the daily surf report, Bruce's obsession with surfing, Bethany's old high school boyfriend who taught her how to read the waves. The play is more character than plot driven, focusing on how the worlds of the various characters overlap and collide, and what happens when they do. A metaphor for the two sides of SoCal—laidback surfer culture vs. the high-stakes business world. It's a dark play, without the rapier satire of Weisman's earlier hit, Be Aggressive. It is, however, quietly beautiful and an excellent snapshot of modern Southern California.
The actors make a fine ensemble. Gregory Harrison stands out as the eerily charismatic Bruce, as does Liv Rooth as Jena who is a breath of fresh air and a charaxcter I wanted to see more of. While meant to be comic relief, Jenna is also Bethany's exact opposite and as such the only person capable of helping her realize that she's not such a misfit after all. Harrison's Bruce and Linda Gehringer's Judith have a great chemistry together. Their story is heartbreaking. Judith wants so much to be a guiding force in Bruce's life and to be as powerful in her own way as he is in his. Becausev Bruce is completely self-absorbed we know from the beginning that he will never see Judith as anything more than an assistant, and it's sad to see Judith struggle to arrive at that same conclusion, realizing that so many years of her life were spent for nothing.
Director Lisa Peterson does a great job of highlighting the play's complicated emotions. But the star of the show, as far as I was concerned, was the production itself. Rachel Hauck's set managed to be both lush and spare at the same time; a large mural of a breaking wave, bisected by a stark modern balcony staircase with an undulating blue-green wave-pattern floor. It could have been the lobby of a high-end condo building, or a plastic surgeon's office, or almost anywhere in Southern California. John Gromada's sound design was similarly expressive and lingering.
Surf Report deals with a number of weighty issues, but Annie Weisman is a fine writer and able to capture the complexities of life in Southern California in a way no one else can. You might need a martini before and after this play, but it's definitely worth it.
|
Surf Report Written by Annie Weisman Directed by Lisa Peterson With Linda Gehringer (Judith), Gregory Harrison (Bruce), Matthew Arkin (Hal), Liv Rooth (Jena) and Zoe Chao (Bethany) Set Design: Rachel Hauck Lighting Design: Ben Stanton Sound Design: John Gromada Costume Design: David Zinn Running Time: Two hours and five minutes with one fifteen-minute intermission La Jolla Playhouse; 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA; 858-550-1010 Tickets $31-$66 Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 pm; Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm; Sundays at 7 pm. Matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm June 15 — July 11, 2010 Reviewed by Jenny Sandman based on June 25th performance |
|
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe,
E-mail:  esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.comput SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. Visit Curtainup's Blog Annex Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. |
South Pacific
In the Heights
Sweeney Todd DVD
Playbill Broadway Yearbook
