July 09, 2007

'Love Letters,' Novato Theater Company

Mark Clark and Robyn Wiley (top) perform Aug. 17-18,
following Dale Camden and Susan Davis, Aug. 10-11


'Letters' pushes buttons, not boundaries


By Mark Langton
IJ Correspondent

Article Launched: 08/09/2007 04:54:16 PM PDT

I FOUND Novato Theater Company's production of "Love Letters" a little depressing. But that's just me.

That said, it should be noted that A.R. Gurney's epistolary duet, ably directed and produced by James Hurwitz and Mark Clark, was extremely well received by sold-out audiences last weekend, and handily performed by actors Glenda Vessey and Joe Peer. It will play for two more weekends and will feature two additional pairs of accomplished local actors: Susan Davis and Dale Camden (Aug. 10 and 11) and Robyn Wiley and actor-producer Clark (Aug. 17 and 18) - intriguing pairings all - in the company's tiny but well-appointed new Pacheco Playhouse behind the Safeway in Ignacio.

Requiring only minimal staging and
two performers who don't even have to learn their lines, Gurney's now-ubiquitous "Love Letters" has become the modern chamber play of choice for anyone either sponsoring a fundraiser or looking to create a celebrity vehicle that doesn't require much muss.

The script for the original production, which opened off-Broadway in 1989 and starred John Rubinstein and Kathleen Turner, contains this explanatory note from Gurney:
"This is a play, or rather a sort of a play, which needs no theater, no lengthy rehearsal, no special set, no memorization of lines and no commitment from its two actors beyond the night of performance. It is designed simply to be read aloud by an actor and an actress of roughly the same age, sitting side by side at a table."

It works best, Gurney wrote, "if the actors don't look at each other until the end."

The three pairs of local actors join the scores of famous and not-so-famous "Love Letters" power couples who have sat side by side reading the life-long, intimate correspondence between two WASPish soul mates - if it can be believed that WASPs actually have souls - one Melissa Gardner (played by Vessey last weekend) and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III (played last weekend by Peer), whose bond begins in childhood and ends in middle age. It was performed in the North Bay as recently as last year by former TV stars and Marin residents (before their recent move to New York) Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker of "L.A. Law" fame. I saw it in the late 1980s with a robust Christopher Reeve and an actress whose name I can't recall, lost in the mists of time. Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows took a turn. So did Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst. Would you believe Timothy Dalton and Whoopi Goldberg? Sandy Duncan and Peter Fonda? All true, all true.

The tale of their lives, which move in different directions almost immediately, and their odd, life-long connection is by turns as mundane and complex as life gets. The missives they share literally span the gamut from an elementary school valentine to a post-mortem condolence.

We meet them this way:

"Andrew Makepeace Ladd III accepts with pleasure the kind invitation of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Channing Gardner for a birthday party in honor of their daughter Melissa on the occasion of her seventh birthday."

Melissa: "Dear Andy: Thank you for the birthday present. I have lots of Oz books, but not 'The Lost Princess of Oz.' What made you give me that one? Sincerely, Melissa."

Particularly effective last Saturday was Peer's interpretation of Andy, the upright, uptight WASP so often found in Gurney's plays. Arguably miscast as Oscar Madison in last year's NTC production of "The Odd Couple," it was rewarding to see this actor handle something he could sink his teeth into. Peer brought an understated, quiet dignity to Andy, especially in the emotionally difficult final scene - which only goes to prove that an actor should never be wholly judged by a single role.

Vessey's interpretation of Melissa, a rebellious, loving, artistic and self-destructive lost princess from a wealthy but broken home, felt uncharacteristically forced in the early scenes. She was guilty of a common misdemeanor among actresses of a certain age when playing children - mistaking petulance for "child-like."

The result is often a discomfiting coquettishness in a little girl, appropriate only to JonBenet-style child beauty pageants, if ever. This was no doubt due to lack of rehearsal time, for Vessey clearly warmed to her task by Act II, exuding subtle shades of inner conflict and repressed pain, making the ultimate disintegration of Melissa both credible and compelling.

It could be said that "Love Letters" is a slick and predictably structured work that pushes more buttons than it does boundaries, and that watching several decades of schools and summer camps, colleges and hospital stays, marriages and careers - the arc of an entire lifetime - in the span of just over 90 minutes can be a little saddening as it whisks by (depending, no doubt, on where you fall in that arc).

However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. A definite argument can be made for the importance of theater that disturbs. "Love Letters," in its own minimal way, makes this argument well, reminding audiences "of a certain age" that one of the few up-sides of middle age is insight. And that sometimes memories of "Roads Not Taken" provide the deepest, sweetest ones of all.

Quick note: This production is intended to be both a celebration of NTC's 60th anniversary (of their incorporation as a theater company) and as a fundraiser to pay off the first phase of their new theater renovation - as well as funding phase two.

Support your local community theater. It's good for you.

Joe Peer and Glenda Vessey took their turn Aug. 3-4

IF YOU GO

What: A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters"

Who: Novato Theater Company

When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Aug.10-11 and 17-18

Where: Pacheco Playhouse, 484 Ignacio Blvd., Pacheco Plaza Shopping Center, Novato.

Tickets: Benefit performances. All tickets $15.

Info: 892-3005 or www.novatocommunityplayers.com


This production did not receive a star rating since the cast changes weekly.

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