Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
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Dir, DeWeldon
Photo by Michael Gerdsmeier
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By Mary E. Montoro
Lysander quoted in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “the course of true never did run smooth.” The lovelorn suitor might have been thinking of Danny and Roberta from Danny & the Deep Blue Sea, written by the Tony Award-winning playwright Patrick Shanley. He isn’t a stranger to pushing the truth, no matter how ugly or wicked, right in your face, forcing you to see it, feel it, and accept the fallout. He made the possibility of sexual abuse into fact in Doubt and placed racism in an integrated army in the south in Defiance. Shanley’s blatant honesty will irritate some, but it makes for tasty conversation over coffee afterwards.
He continues with his fascination for the letter D in this offering. Danny is the rebellious opposite of every saccharine love story ever told on stage and screen. He is anything but the ideal, sophisticated, well-versed Romeo of any woman’s dream. Roberta is no damsel in distress looking for her knight in shining armor either. These people have damage instilled so deep that explosives couldn’t break through. In order to survive and make it together, a lot of the their hidden demons must be released, and it isn't easy.
At the start of the play, Danny walks into a dimly lit bar in New York beaten up from a fight. He pours beer on a wound from his hand which captures Roberta’s attention at the next table. She’s downing her beer and chain smoking. At first sight, they show self-animosity and project unhappiness at the unforgivable world that that won’t give them a break. From the beginning, the tension starts. Danny doesn’t want to talk about how he might have killed the guy he fought with, but he can’t keep his mouth shut. In fairness, Roberta eggs Danny on to talk so she can discuss what’s troubling her. Every time Danny wants to stop, Roberta pushes his buttons, and they end up in a profound conversation.
Roberta is unhappy living at home with her toxic parents and troubled son. He recently broke his engagement to a neurotic girlfriend. Roberta defines herself as crazy and wants to ‘get out of her head.’
Danny is known at work as The Beast. They certainly aren't the ideal couple commonly portrayed in love stories. Instead it’s a real depiction of two desperate and lost souls trying to rise from being fixed at the bottom of life’s ladder.
The addendum to the play’s title reads An Apache Dance, which the program explains as "a violent dance for two people." This truly defines the deadly tango Roberta and Danny do with each other. However, Shanley doesn't leave his two souls completely without a conscience. Both eventually let their guards down and envelop themselves in the bitter sweetness of one another. Danny no longer wants be considered the Beast, and Roberta is in urgent need of forgiveness for her past sins.
Actors Deborah Dir and Daniel De Weldon give convincing and memorable performances as Roberta and Danny. Dir plays her role with vulnerability but can still kick Danny’s ass. As Roberta, she’s reaching out for a connection, where Danny fights it but gives in. De Weldon is a reminder of the Brando's Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. He's all muscle and bite, but, in this case, with a deep wide void aching to be filled with humanity. As Roberta, Dir challenges him, and De Weldon fights back with the same zeal.
Dir and De Weldon give excellent performances, giving their characters heart and believability.
Shanley provides the therapy they need to help themselves heal.
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea plays at The Elephant Performance Lab, 1076 N. Lillian Way, Hollywood, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Extended to September 1, 2007. For tickets call (323) 960-7753 or reserve online at www.plays411.com/danny.
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