Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

Novato Theater Company delights audiences with its second production in their brand new facility at Pacheco Playhouse. Pulitzer Prize winner, John Patrick, authored the sometimes dated, but still touching comedy [tag]The Curious Savage[/tag], and the production is brisk, if sometimes muted around the edges.

Linda Reid, director, brings to life this funny and poignant story of a woman sent against her will to a home for the ?somewhat more than eccentric.? Reid knows the story she wishes to tell, and guides the audience through laughter and tears. She even survives a director?s worst nightmare: having an actor wind up in the hospital in the middle of the run. Reid found herself onstage to fill in for the missing actor, and, I am sure was grateful that the role, while significant to the story, requires only four lines to be delivered. I wasn?t counting; I just know the role, because I played Mrs. Paddy about twelve years ago.

The cast is a group of eleven capable actors, five of them men. All give solid performances. Especially noteworthy is Glenda Vessey (Fairy May). Vessey?s character is as flighty as her name would suggest, and moves about the stage with a physicality that is fun to watch. She utilizes set pieces in unique and creative ways, and whether perched on the coffee table, or standing on the furniture, she manages to be both endearing and vulnerable. The other inmates, played by Carole Landes (Florence), Jesse Rademacher (Hannibal), and Robert Nelson (Jeffrey), each imbue their characters with unique characteristics, and although blind to their own problems, are keenly insightful about the others at the Cloisters.

Kathleen Gerard (Ethel Savage) handles her role with quiet humor, but sometimes backs away from the more confrontational moments with her nasty step-children. Frederick Lein (Senator Titus Savage) commands the stage as the epitome of a slick politician, and manages to appear respectable but reveals his character to be sleazy. His siblings, Roy Anne Florence (Lily Belle), and Bob Stanley (Judge Samuel Savage), bring their own greed to the fore and add additional layers of vanity, weakness, and selfishness.

The cast is rounded out with, Allan Cory (Dr. Emmet) and Amy Rae Berman (Miss Wilhelmina), the two people who run the Cloisters, and provide a foil for the remaining characters? eccentric and warped world-view.

The set is beautifully rendered, with nice architectural details like arched doorways and niches. Music selection is appropriate to the era, and sets the time-frame to the early 1950?s as soon as the audience enters the space. Costuming is nicely done, but sometimes the selections for Mrs. Savage overpower her performance. I found myself admiring the gorgeous and vibrant colors on her embroidered coat instead of listening to her dialogue, and that seems too bad. It is also disappointing that she neglects to pick up her gifts when she leaves the Cloisters at the end of the play.

It is always difficult to review a play that is intimately known, and The Curious Savage is particularly hard for me because I learned so much by playing Mrs. Paddy. It is, and probably always will be, one of my favorite roles. Therefore, I am a little disappointed that this character was hidden so much of the time upstage behind her easel and the other characters. An opportunity to draw the audience into her world of quiet observation is missed in this production. Even her confrontation with Titus is played upstage, and the scene is diminished because of it.

Nevertheless, The Curious Savage manages to touch the audience with its poignancy, and is a well-rounded play that will leave you uplifted. The Curious Savage plays through 10 December at the beautiful new Pacheco Playhouse in Novato. See their web site at www.novatotheatercompany.org or call 415-892-3005 for tickets, play schedules and audition information. Their next production is Picnic by William Inge.

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