Wisecracking co-worker Drew Carter (Chris Pine) is given a breadbasket of assorted roles: confidante, nemesis, blockhead, and clear-eyed seer (with his own shameful story of an obese loved one). To his credit, Pine keeps all these facets within his acting wheelhouse and makes this grab-bag character feel real. It's also a very entertaining performance.
The jilted Jeannie also gives us the embodiment of that funny-painful experience of knowing you’re in a go-nowhere relationship, but becoming incensed when the other person pulls the plug. At a crap table, however, the real-life odds against the most highly compatible Helen being chosen over even a high-maintenance Jeannie could fatten any bankroll into the GNP of Kuwait.
Still, in the world of literature, anything is possible. At one point, there’s a slight evocation that, like Huck, Tom has escaped the real world and now floats in harmony with the person he freed, and who has freed him in return. Twain’s raft ride through race relations will have a happier ending. If Tom tosses Helen overboard, she likely will not make it back to the healthy spot she had reached in her life. Instead, she could sink under the weight of a rejection she had allowed herself to believe the world had moved beyond.
Bonney has an excellent design team with costumes by Christina Haatainen Jones, lights by Lap-Chi Chu, a sleek and versatile multi-location unit set by Louisa Thompson, and a tough, engaging soundtrack by Colbert S. Davis IV.
CREDITS by Neil LaBute, directed by Jo Bonney, Louisa Thompson, set; Tina Haatainen Jones, costumes; Lap-Chi Chu, lights; Colbert S. Davis IV, sound; Frankie Ocasio, stage management
WITH Andrea Anders, Chris Pine, Scott Wolf, Kirsten Vangsness
West Coast Premiere Geffen Playhouse / Audrey Skirball Theatre May 5-June 10 (Opened May 11, rev. 5/10)
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