Dark comedy 'Marie and Bruce' presented by PAD

By Liam Otten

February 16, 2001

Wallace Shawn is perhaps best known as a character actor, having appeared in dozens of films, from Hollywood comedies like "The Princess Bride" (1987) and "Clueless" (1995) to Louis Malle's classic two-person dialogue "My Dinner With Andre" (1981). Perhaps less widely recognized, however, is Shawn's career as an Obie Award-winning playwright, whose often wickedly funny works have been staged at prestigious venues across the United States and Europe.

 

Juniors Annie Erikson and Barrett Graves play the title roles in "Marie and Bruce" at the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

Beginning Thursday, the University's Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present Shawn's darkly comic "Marie and Bruce," a unsparing account of 24 hours in a tempestuous urban marriage.

"Marie and Bruce" follows a day in the life of a troubled New York couple, whose often savage (if darkly funny) bickering can make "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" sound like the pinnacle of domestic bliss. From the opening monologue, in which Marie frankly informs the audience that she is considering divorce, to Bruce's overindulgence at a swanky loft party and the final denouement in a Japanese restaurant, the pair gives new --and not entirely welcome --meaning to the phrase "emotional honesty."

"This is a fierce little play, a polemic about love," said William Whitaker, artist-in-residence in the PAD who directs the 15-member cast. "It's as if all our basest instincts, all the things we have secretly wondered about 'the beloved,' get said out loud."

Whitaker warns that audiences accustomed to seeing the actor Shawn in light-hearted-film roles may be surprised at the playwright's almost cruelly satiric force.

"When you look at the roles that someone like Sam Shepherd plays, for example, you sort of expect him to write the kind of expansive, Western-American dramas that he does," Whitaker said. "But if you expect Wallace Shawn to write 'cute' or 'charming' plays --well, watch out.

"Shawn is out to punch you in the face with his strange, dangerous musings about the interior life of the American scene. For anybody who's ever been in a relationship, it's as if everything has been made manifest, with editor-free, rocket-fuel cruelty. Dramatically, he wants us to own up to our darkest secrets --to recognize what we're like outside of the public eye, when all the masks come off."

Whitaker noted that the actors, particularly juniors Annie Erickson and Barrett Graves in the title roles, have brought to their performances "an extraordinarily sophisticated notion of what this relationship is all about. It's really amazing to see."

The scenic design, by junior Justin Barisonek, is a marvel of theatrical efficiency that quickly transforms from an urban apartment setting into a gallery-style loft and, later, into the Japanese restaurant. Lighting design is by junior Katie Foresman, with costumes by Sallie Durbin, costume shop supervisor.

Shawn is the author of 14 plays, including "A Thought in Three Parts" (1975), "Aunt Dan and the Lemon" (1985), "The Fever" (1991) and "The Designated Mourner" (1996). As an actor, his film credits include "All That Jazz" (1979), "The Hotel New Hampshire" (1984), "Radio Days" (1987), "Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills" (1989), "Vegas Vacation" (1997) and "Vanya on 42nd Street" (1994). He leant his voice to the films "Toy Story" (1995) and "All Dogs Go To Heaven 2" (1996) and has appeared on television in "Taxi," "The Cosby Show," "Murphy Brown" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," among others.

Shows Feb. 22-24 and March 1-3 begin at 8 p.m., with a 2 p.m. performance Feb. 25, all in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theater, Mallinckrodt Center, Room 208. Tickets - $8 for senior citizens and University faculty, staff and students, and $12 for the general public - may be purchased at the Edison Theatre Box Office (935-6543) or through MetroTix (534-1111).

For more information, call 935-6543.

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