at the Little Fish Theatre
It's a rare pleasure, these days, to see a work as well-crafted as Cecilia Fannon's new heart-stabbing drama. A poignant study of human foibles, the work explores the love, pain, prejudice, and clash of wills that bind two neighboring families for three generations. Not only does Fannon create believable flesh-and-blood characters who develop through time, they tell a universal story all can identify with. Under the sensitive direction of Pete Taylor (who also designed the beguiling set), the action is sometimes uneven and slow; but strong performances throughout override the problem.
Beginning in Queens, N.Y., at the close of World War II, the story follows the stormy relationship between an uneducated Irish-American family and the educated Italian neighbors who own the property. There have long been hard feelings between these first-generation immigrants, so the mother (a hilarious Carrie Darrow) doesn't trust the friendship that her bright teenage daughter Rosellen (a delightful Allison Turner) shares with Bonifacio, the Italian son who secretly loves her. Michael Csoppenszky is marvelous as the shy, stuttering, stoic math teacher who was deferred from the war for health reasons; and George J. Woods almost steals the show as his aging, ailing father who is set in his Old World ways. All hell breaks loose when Michael, Rosellen's Irish boyfriend, comes home from the army after two years in Europe. Cyrus Alexander's portrayal of this disturbed war hero who is a vulgar, aggressive drunk is dynamite. When Michael gets violent and hurls ultimatums at the end of Act One, the die is cast for disaster. But, like Cassandra's cry in the wilderness, no one does anything to prevent it.
For 18 troubled years the families live side by side without speaking; then one day a young teenager named Gloria (Kacie Brown) enters Bonifacio's math class and breaks the silence. What happens next has all the power of contemporary Greek tragedy.
Presented by Pandora Productions in association with Little Fish and Jerico Development at Little Fish Theatre, 777 Centre St., San Pedro. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m. (Sun. March 26, 7 p.m.) Mar. 3-Apr. 1. (310) 507-0269.
Reviewed by Shirle Gottlieb