Some years ago, when South Coast Repertory presented Nicky Silver's "Pterodactyls," the young and hip seemed delighted, while much of the audience seemed left bemused. Silver's plays tend to be thus polarizing, because, as one critic put it, they start out as black farce, veering into all kinds of aberrations and perversities—until the bottom drops out.
This is true of "The Maiden's Prayer." In Act I, we're introduced to Taylor (Isaac Nippert) and Cynthia (Lauren Hattaway) at their wedding. Among the guests are a gay man, Paul (Colbert Alembert), and the bride's needy, hard-drinking sister Libby (Courtney DeCosky), both of whom are secretly in love with Taylor. For most of the act, the comedy continues, as we're introduced to three of Paul's serial sexual partners, all played by Ben Hensley. The third of these, the overbearing and unshakable Andrew, moves into Paul's apartment and refuses to leave. He sees Paul as a means to a better apartment, cable TV, and other amenities. Meanwhile, Libby's self-centered fecklessness and willful whining get her fired, and she drifts almost accidentally into prostitution, imagining that her unappealing clients are Taylor. Then the play shifts gears radically: When Libby announces her new career to her family, Cynthia becomes enraged, leading to a tragic miscarriage that destroys her marriage and leaves her bitter and hostile. Brittle, acerbic comedy gives way to real human pain.
The tonal shifts are disconcerting, and it doesn't help that all of the characters tend to be bullies, inclined to shrillness and shouting. It's not easy to care about any of them, and sometimes one wants to throttle them. Director Tim Landfield gets a lot right, but one wishes he'd curb the actors' impulses to yell, and the staging of the first and last scenes is awkward. Nippert skillfully depicts Taylor's descent into despair after Cynthia leaves him. DeCosky's Libby is equally convincing, though a more restrained performance might serve her better. Alembert's rather nebbishy Paul is secretly delighted when the disappearance of Cynthia opens his way to Taylor, while Hattaway struggles to lend credibility to the play's most opaque character, and Hensley finds plenty of humor as Paul's three sex partners.
Presented by Will Do Productions at the Raven Playhouse, 5233 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Feb. 4-27. Fri.–Sun., 8 p.m. (800) 681-5150.