A.R.T. David Mamet Celebration Finale

Sex, Satire, Romance and Ducks: A David Mamet Celebration

Two plays by David Mamet

The Duck Variations  Director, Marcus Stern; Lighting Design, Jeff Adelberg; Sound Design, David Remedios; Stage Manager, Chris de Camillis; Production Assistant, Graydon Gund; CAST: Thomas Derrah, Will LeBow

Sexual Perversity in Chicago The A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training production; Director, Paul Stacey; Costume Design, Mallory Freers; Lighting Design, Jeff Adelberg; Sound Design, David Remedios; Stage Manager, Kyle Carlson; Production Assistant, Graydon Gund; CAST: Tim Eliot, Scott Lyman, Susannah Hoffman, Laura Parker

Performances through June 28 at A.R.T. Zero Arrow Theater 

Box Office 617-547-8300 or www.amrep.org

David Mamet graduated from college in 1969 and has written or staged at least one play or screenplay in almost every year over the last four decades. Capping his long association with the American Repertory Theater, the spring festival celebrating his comic genius concludes with a double bill of The Duck Variations and Sexual Perversity in Chicago at the Zero Arrow Theater. As only the second and third plays from his prolific pen, these one-acts offer an early glimpse into Mamet's facility for dialogue and a surprising awareness of the inner life of characters at opposite ends of a generational timeline.

The Duck Variations features A.R.T. Company actors Thomas Derrah (Emil Varec) and Will LeBow (George S. Aronovitz) as two men in their sixties who share a park bench at The Edge of a lake in a big city. In a series of fourteen vignettes, separated by fade-to-black moments and introduced by title cards on easels flanking the stage, Emil and George pass the time by talking about anything and everything, nonsense and nothing, but often about birds and ducks. I am awed by the insight of the twenty-something Mamet into the minds of these elderly gentlemen. Rich with metaphor, the discourse is really about the important things in life, such as the value of friendship, the fear of being alone, and the inevitability of mortality, even if the duo uses their feathered friends to illustrate their points.

As good and genuine as is the written dialogue, Derrah and LeBow take it to another level with their performances. It seems that I comment on their chemistry with every A.R.T. production that I review, but their synergy is undeniable, the product of acting together in this company for decades. The format of the script, filled with short bursts of speech, calls for the characters to interrupt and talk over each other, often completing each others' sentences, and Derrah and LeBow do it seamlessly. They are like two tennis pros, volleying back and forth at the net with practiced precision. Their body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice create the illusion of old age and enable them to mine every nugget of humor inherent in their situation. The actors are supported by only the green-slatted bench and a wire mesh trash barrel, but Derrah and LeBow inhabit their characters and paint a vivid picture of their park, with or without props.

The night club atmosphere of the Zero Arrow space is especially well-suited for Sexual Perversity in Chicago as many of the scenes take place in singles' bars. The audience serves as fellow patrons, as well as observers in this play which examines the mating habits and relationships of four urban young men and women. It has a 1970s sensibility, from the attitudes and vernacular, to Mallory Freers costume designs. Both made me hope that times have changed.

Danny (Scott Lyman) and Bernard (Tim Eliot) are co-workers who share the tales, real or imagined of their sexual exploits. Bernard sees himself as an older, wiser mentor who advises the less experienced Danny about how to woo women. Roommates Deborah (Susannah Hoffman) and Joan (Laura Parker) discuss dating and men, but diverge in their outlooks as Deborah seems trusting and hopeful, while Joan is defensive and cynical. When Danny and Deborah move in together, their meddlesome friends predict failure, and then proceed to ensure that outcome by undermining the relationship at every turn.

All of these people are recognizable as Mamet creations, and none of them is especially likeable, thanks to the fine portrayals that Director Paul Stacey elicits from his A.R.T. Institute troupe. Lyman and Hoffman travel a broader arc as they grow from starry-eyed naifs to once-burnt veterans of the gender war. Eliot and Parker both unveil layers in their outwardly one-note characters, revealing the little boy and girl hiding inside their glib outer shells. Most of the scenes are dyads and shift from the central stage to the bar or to staircases on either side of the stage, implying a slightly kinetic sensation at the same time as the expression or stuffing of emotions feels alternately numbing or infuriating. These young actors are promising, but have some distance to travel before they can achieve the symbiosis shared by Derrah and LeBow.

According to press materials, the original pairing of The Duck Variations and Sexual Perversity in Chicago in their 1976 premiere justified a full ticket price. However, there are parallels in the male relationships that suggest that Danny and Bernard grow up to become Emil and George decades later.  Also, existential themes run through both stories, making their juxtaposition apt. In Cambridge in 2009, we can look upon Danny, Bernard, Deborah, and Joan and laugh at them as relics of the past who would have evolved into more enlightened beings. We see Emil and George and start to wonder about the future. Quack, quack.

Photo credit: Scott Lyman, Susannah Hoffman (by Kati Mitchell)