Strasberg, who also directs, fails to zero in on any topic. His multiple characters, mostly historical figures, spew their perspectives on hot-button issues, from abortion to the Holocaust to the crisis in Greece to Occupy Wall Street. (He employs a disorderly audience member to bring up the last one.) However, shining light on everything that is wrong and has been wrong with our society hardly changes anyone's mind. There needs to be an argument and a structure to it.
Morning news host Johnny Johnson (Dennis Davies) comes into work on Nov. 1, the Day of the Dead, and plans to interview the medium Magda (a stereotypically loopy Jacqueline Jacobus) on his show. In the green room, Johnny and his associates Maria, Rob, and Louise watch as Magda allegedly contacts everyone from Hitler to Mary, the mother of God. The play walks a thin and confusing dream-versus-reality line, aided by Marika Kent's alien invasion–like lighting. Each character wants a soapbox and speaks elliptically around countless contested issues.
Strasberg's choice of characters is odd, but the one that really perplexes is Hamlet, as he is the only fictional character. Portrayed sweetly by Nick Baldock, Hamlet recites Shakespeare's sonnets and acts as though he is the Bard. Maybe he's supposed to be.
The work's muddiness suggests that the writer-director didn't consult an outside eye. Collaboration might have helped in the editing process. At the performance I attended, a few actors stumbled over their lines, and at times Beverlix Jean-Baptiste, as Maria, the news show's producer, looked like she was reading from a script in the binder she carries. The highest praise I have is for Javier Machado as Hitler. Machado disappears into the role and finds a sympathetic side to the heartless dictator. Virginia Armitage's Einstein is pleasing, though the gender-bending comment in the script is unnecessary, as Armitage is clearly playing the genius as a man.
The play really lost me when Bonnie, of Bonnie and Clyde fame, started giving Johnny a blowjob center stage, as it was vulgar and served absolutely no plot purpose. Strasberg might be employing a legion of actors with this dream sequence of a play, but all I wanted was to wake up.
Presented by Accidental Repertory Theater and H. Clark Kee at the Living Theatre, 21 Clinton St., NYC. Nov. 20–Dec. 18. Thu.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7:30 p.m. (No performance Thu., Nov. 24.) (212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.
