By Neal Weaver, L.A. Weekly |
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Playwright/screenwriter Neil LaBute’s grim view of human nature is refracted through characters who are almost always either victims, predators or both — perverse, cruel and manipulative. And so they are in these three one-acts. In “Iphigenia in Orem,” a silly prank leads indirectly to the death of a baby and a terrible burden of unacknowledged guilt on the child ’s father (David Jay Barry). “A Gaggle of Saints” concerns a pair of feckless, smug (and presumably Mormon) Boston University students, John (Dan Westerman) and Sue (Christina Diaz), whose weekend trip to NYC results in a brutal gay-bashing in Central Park. And “Medea Redux” focuses on a woman (Clare Meehan) who takes horrific, self-destructive revenge on the English teacher who seduced her when she was 13 and abandoned her when he discovered she was pregnant. The plays are written with perception and finesse, acted with skill and directed with precision by Steve Ferguson. But here, LaBute is more storyteller than dramatist. All the pieces are monologues, telling us about hideous events in the past. Ninety minutes of reminiscence, however well done, gets a bit static. 3KO Broadway Theater Company at the Sidewalk Studio Theater, 4150 Riverside Dr., Burbank; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m. (no perfs Memorial Day weekend); thru June 26. (818) 629-2342. 05/20/2004 |
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