Jan 25, 2008

'Dead Mother' alive again

By John Angell Grant / Theater Reviewer

Some mothers never die. That immortality threatens the happiness of a young man in David Greenspan's bizarre comedy "Dead Mother, or Shirley Not All in Vain." The show is running at Traveling Jewish Theatre, co-produced by San Francisco's highly regarded Thick Description.

"Dead Mother" has an unusual history. It was first presented at New York's legendary Public Theater 13 years ago, and has not been produced since.

That makes this Bay Area premiere its second production ever. Since playwright Greenspan has reworked the script for this production, the Bay Area staging is a historical theater event of sorts.

"Dead Mother" tells of 30-something Harold's obsessive conflict with his mother and father, and his effort to find his own identity. As it turns out, Harold's mother died long ago after swallowing half a bottle of muscle relaxants.

Harold, at his brother's request, begins to impersonate his mother at social events effectively enough that people believe that he is she. Soon he finds himself stuck playing the role of his mother.

This is an actor's play. Author Greenspan, who is also an actor, performed the part of Harold in the original Public Theater production.

That show allowed him to play himself, and his mother, and himself as a character in the play playing his mother. Harold, who is gay, has difficulty telling his parents the truth.

The family comedy takes place on designer Rick Martin's striking bare stage set, with black walls and a single drab sofa in the middle of the room. Contrasting with the black walls, the floor radiates a rainbow of color design in the form of concentric rectangles, like a Frank Stella painting.

There's good acting in director Tony Kelly's production. In one memorable scene, Harold (Liam Vincent) barricades himself in a bathroom during a tea party in which he is playing his mother for the guests. There in the bathroom he has a fast-paced back-and-forth argument between himself and his mother, playing both parts.

Deb Fink has a wonderful scene as a motor-mouth sister-in-law-to-be, chattering compulsively about nothing to Harold's fascinated mother (played by Harold). Later, Harold's mother (again played by Harold) and Harold's father (Louis Parnell) argue angrily about the family toilet paper business. They drop their family lies for a moment and the scene is very moving.

Dena Martinez's stroll at night in a park, as Harold's estranged wife, creates an effective sense of vacuum. Gabriel Marin is strong as Harold's supportive, less angry, straight brother.

Where the play goes south, for me, is in its self-indulgent literary references. In one scene the actors play Greek mythological figures, re-creating the buildup to the Trojan War.

In another scene, set as a staged reading of a play script, Harold journeys into Hell with Alice B. Toklas as his guide (instead of Dante's Virgil).

The literary allusions are elementary ones from a basic literature survey course. It's hard to see what the point is. They seem writerly self-consciousness, more than potent story metaphor.

Similarly, in a long monologue an elderly in-law (Corey Fischer) recalls a visit to the dentist, which connects bacterial flossing to the evolution of global warming.

But all of these allusions are merely authorial vamping. Real family conflict is more moving than the structural arty stuff. In fact, after digging through all the literary unusualness, "Dead Mother" ends up being a fairly familiar story of conflict between a gay son and his unsympathetic mother.

That said, it's still cool to have a show that played a world premiere at the Public Theater in New York many years ago and then vanished, reappear in the Bay Area 13 years later for only its second production ever. Some mothers never die.

Rating: Three stars

E-mail John Angell Grant at jagplays@paloaltodailynews.com.