at the Orange Curtain Theatre
In his 1988 play, A.R. Gurney brilliantly uses the story of a young female college student assigned to study Sophocles' Antigone as a parallel with the ancient tale itself. Judy Miller (A.J. Paul) is cut from the same cloth as Antigone, while Judy's unyielding professor, Henry Harper (Bob May), is a stern father figure whose personality mirrors Creon's. Had Gurney merely updated this ancient tale, he would have been one of countless writers down through the ages to have written yet "another Antigone." His version shines because it sees the irony of such a modern-day rendering and thus a good deal of humor, as compared to the original's grim tones.
Even as we're drawn into the escalating high-stakes poker game between Judy and Harper, we're invited to laugh at them both. May's condescending Harper speaks in lofty nasal tones reminiscent of John Houseman's Professor Kingsfield from The Paper Chase. For someone of such obvious intelligence, Judy's naiveté is laughable, as is her inability to articulate her vision of the United States and Soviet Union as akin to ancient warring powers. Underlying the Judy-Harper conflict are issues of perceived anti-Semitism (Judy is Jewish), campus politics, and political correctness, played for laughs and drama.
Though confined by Orange Curtain's black-box venue, director May avoids a static staging through his set, which represents various locales of the play's unnamed Boston university (Harper's office, his classroom, the humanities dean's office, etc.). He reveals his character's devotion to classic literature as genuine, not just a means to wield power over his students. Paul's Judy is appealingly idealistic and ambitious. As Judy's devoted boyfriend, Jonathon Kolbush is gentle and introspective, convincing in his gradual conversion from indifference toward Greek tragedy to passion for it, while Ruth Kurisu is tense and harried as the humanities dean, caught in the middle of Judy's struggles with Harper, whose actions unwittingly trigger their final showdown.
Presented by and at the Orange Curtain Theatre, 31776 El Camino Real, San Juan Capistrano. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. Feb. 22-Mar. 9. (949) 412-3252. www.theorangecurtaintheatre.org.
Reviewed by Eric Marchese