In On It
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Gordon, Anthony
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By Melinda Schupmann
This production is a working actor’s dream. Its multiple characterizations and fast pacing keep both actors and audience on its collective toes. It requires only two actors, two chairs, and a communal jacket to translate Daniel MacIvor’s Glaad and Obie-winning play. It is a risky adventure, though, because it takes a bit of work to follow the inter-connecting stories.
The central story involves a playwright (Josh Gordon) who is directing his own play with input from his quirky and confrontational actor/partner (Blake Anthony—also referred to as That One). The playwright (also referred to as This One) is tense, seemingly because of his investment is his work, but also because the relationship the two have shared is problematic.
This One’s play is about a man who has just been given the news that he has a potentially fatal disease (unnamed), and his doctor is, at best, cryptically objective. As soon as this man recovers from hearing the news, he finds out that his wife is getting ready to leave him. Other scenes relate a meeting with his adult son at dinner to tell him the news, and a visit to the nursing home where his senile father can’t even remember him. His life, at this point, is hardly worth hanging on to.
As you suffer the emotional angst of the play’s characters, you also are witness to the evolution of the playwright’s love affair with his partner. There are moments of mirth, but they seem very bittersweet because of the depth and range of Anthony and Gordon’s acting abilities.
The play has its trickier moments. It is at play’s end when you can finally start to put all the pieces together. It revolves back upon itself, and the end is back at the very beginning of the production. There are moments when MacIvor’s work seems a trifle precious, but director Michael Van Duzer has a clear vision and never lets the maudlin overwhelm the edgy characterizations.
The aforementioned jacket also is front and center in the play, being exchanged back and forth between the two actors as they experiment with their characterizations or when worn by various characters in the playwright’s play. It strikes the first symbolic moment in the play and becomes the last when the spotlight dims at the end.
The technical aspects of the show play a major part. Bob Blackburn’s sound design incorporates both operatic—Maria Callas—and pop—Sunshine and Lollipops by Leslie Gore—as elements that define the personalities of the two lovers. A charming dance by Anthony and Gordon is a highlight toward the end of the play.
The lighting design is also very important, as bright key lights or muted mood lighting helps discern the play from the play-within-the-play.
This is a jigsaw of a play. The benefit of seeing it is in experiencing the storyline in a more oblique fashion than is typically done in straight-forward exposition. It doesn’t follow the standard rise and fall of emotions, but they come at you unexpectedly and, in some cases, catch you in an unguarded moment. It is definitely a worthy enterprise.
In On It, presented at The Chandler Studio Theatre Center, 12443 Chandler Blvd., North Hollywood. Tickets are $22, cash only at the door. Fri. and Sat. at 8; Sun. at 3.
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