Beck’s HOUSE
OF BLUE LEAVES asks whether the whole world is crazy
“A man’s home
is his castle, unless it’s a zoo” is the banner used to describe author John
Guare’s THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES, which is now confounding audiences at Beck
Center for the Arts.
The
multi-award winning Guare, who not only authored BLUE LEAVES, but
SIX DEGREES OF
SEPARATION, which is now being staged at Karamu Theatre, is noted for his
highly theatrical scripts. As an
absurdist, he probes into individual psyches by asking the existentialist
question, “What is the purpose of life?”
No play better exposes
Guare’s absurdist ideas than BLUE LEAVES, in which almost every cast member
displays chaotic tendencies, and his anti-war sentiments are obvious. Inn this script Guare is out to explore
the darker side of the American Dream including its obsession with celebrity.
The play is set in Artie
and Banana Shaughnessy’s Queens apartment on the 1965 day when Pope Paul VI
visited New York. There’s a wife
and mother (Bananas) whose world is one of psychotic episodes; a husband and
zoo keeper (Artie) who perceives that his misconceived songs are works of art; Artie’s
mistress (Bunny), who uses her cooking skills and so-called job history to get
her attention; a son (Ronnie) who is AWOL and on a mission to gain world recognition
by blowing up the Pope; some nuns who want their heavenly reward; and, a
shocking ending. Guare seems out
to prove that the world and its inhabitants are crazily obsessed.
Of course, as is the
pattern of black comedy, bizarre overshadows logic. Audience confusion runs rampant in trying to figure out what
outlandish action will follow whatever incident is now being carried out.
The title? Artie describes going to visit the
asylum to which Bananas is going to be admitted and seeing a tree with what
appeared to be blue leaves.
Leaves, which were an illusion, like his life, as they turned out to be bluebirds
which flew away when he approached.
The play had a very
healthy off-Broadway run in 1971, was revived in 1986 and had another long
run. That production starred the
likes of Swoosie Kurtz, Stockard Channing, Danny Aiello and Ben Stiller. Another Broadway revival in 2011 starred
Ben Stiller, Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
The Beck
production, under the direction of Russ Borski, does credit to Guare’s
script. Juliette Regnier is
fascinating as the schizoid Bananas.
She swings from mood to mood flawlessly. Robert Ellis is quite good as her husband Artie, who is
caught between his fantasies of being a famous song writer, though he has no
talent for that task, while being frustrated but well equipped to be a zoo’s
animal caretaker. Carla Petroski does
a good job of being totally “New Yawk” in accent and attitude. Nicholas Chokan brings a crazy presence
as Ronnie, the obsessed son. The
rest of the cast create their roles well.
Borski’s busy
realistic set works nicely to add to the chaos.
CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: THE HOUSE OF BLUE
LEAVES is an absurdist black comedy that asks, “Is this the way to live?,”
while exposing the craziness individuals possess that drives them to adulate
and desire to be celebrities and hero worshippers. Though the production is good, this is not a play for
theatre-goers wanting realistic people in realistic situations.
THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES is scheduled to run through April 21 at Beck Center for the
Arts. For tickets and information
call 216-521-2540 or http://www.beckcenter.org
