Turns on the market are unhealthy seats in the home upstairs within the renovated Henry Murray Stage at Rogue Machine on the Matrix. I struggled to see round corners throughout sections of BABY FOOT and sometimes confronted actors’ backs within the theater spherical. Directed to just about each awkward nook, the play makes use of all obtainable area to set the rec room scene.
Reviewed by Tracey Paleo, Gia On the Transfer
Nonetheless, Hope Lauren, Daniel Dorr, and John Perrin Flynn turned out a powerful docent on drug use, reality, lies, and hard-knock penalties in Tim Venable’s West Coast Premiere. By the top of all of it, Katy Perry’s, “Chained to the Rhythm” was echoing in my head.
It’s Alexis’s (Lauren) final night time in a rehab middle and he or she’s 90 days clear. But it surely’s Blackie’s (Dorr) first on the facility and he’s seeking to latch onto anybody that may get him by way of it. Alexis couldn’t be a greater goal. She’s emotionally susceptible and anxious about her re-entrance into life on the surface. Plus, she’s “scorching”. For Blackie, it’s a candy rating.
Blackie is an unrelenting, traditional manipulator. Wily, a bit gritty, and subversive, his junkie conduct drives each little bit of the impulsiveness they each finally interact in. And Lauren can’t assist herself however fall straight into his charms. Although she tries – aggressively – to fight his advances. However her will deteriorates as shortly because the night time progresses.
Alexis and Blackie dance to the distortion of seductive dependancy in Venable’s “Lengthy Day’s Journey” rehab intersection. And, proper from the beginning, it’s clear from the second Blackie exhibits up that Alexis’s bubble of hope for a sober future goes to burst. How violently, isn’t even a query. Venable doesn’t current the potential for many outcomes apart from failure for each of them on this state of affairs. You would say that the setup comes on the very starting of the play.
Fred (Flynn), a rehab graduate-turned-30-year facility janitor, acts as a type of foil to Alexis as a mentor and good friend. Within the opening scene, he guides and affirms Alexis in her journey. He’s additionally giving her a mild warning couched in his phrases. Fred’s stationary, “Watcher”-like dialogs and entrances inject a quiet however queasy comedian tragedy. He’s seen this identical storyline lots of of occasions. Fred is the statistically, nearly unimaginable success to the predictable conclusion right here. And Flynn performs this position to perfection.
Dorr is epic within the position of Blackie. Every thing about his nuanced character work from talking inflection to physique language is so actual that you just’d nearly say, “expertise”. Lauren as Alexis is all painful motion and response to Blackie’s corrosive jabs. Theirs is a scrumptious however unhappy tête à tête.
In BABY FOOT, playwright Tim Venable tracks the very quick lifespan of tried dependancy restoration. However doesn’t give us or his characters a lot hope for a brighter future. Although Alexis and Blackie can briefly imagine within the lie that issues will get higher, it’s apparent, the cycle will go on and on and on 🎶.
RECOMMENDED
Rogue Machine Presents the West Coast Premiere of:
BABY FOOT
Written and Directed by Tim Venable
That includes: Hope Lauren, Daniel Dorr & John Perrin Flynn
Manufacturing Design by Joe McClean and Dane Bowman
Sound Design by Leanna Keyes
Sound Session by Chris Moscatiello
Produced by John Perrin Flynn and Guillermo Cienfuegos
Stage Supervisor is Rachel Ann Manheimer
Picture by Jeff Lorch
Rogue Machine, within the Matrix Theatre, is situated at 7657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046. Reservations: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/ or for extra info 855-585-5185.
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