Do not be fooled by the traditional “re” in the spelling of Confluence Theatre. Its current work, Durang vs. Ives, running July 13 through 23 at the Blue Heron Arts Center, features four one-act plays by Christopher Durang and David Ives and thus speaks little to theatrical tradition. It does, however, speak to theater that is fun, energetic and innovative.
If you are a hardened theatrical purist, to put it quite simply, you will dislike the production. As the title suggests, Durang vs. Ives is themed as a boxing event. The set is a boxing ring, and every play is accompanied by ringside commentary that precedes and follows it. The ringside commentators are Tim Lamplight (Brian Ferdman), a Marv Albert spoof; Barry Lurchant (Gerrard Spencer), a McCarthyite; and Tha Dogg Prophet (Jasha Godschilde), an aspiring rap artist. At the end, three random members of the audience decide who is the better playwright. Everything about the show defies convention.
For the most part, these senseless acts of innovation are most welcome. The boxing theme, for example, set the tone for the material–funny, playful, lighthearted. The material seemed tailor-made for a group of actors who seem to specialize in slapstick comedy.
This is not to say that the humor of Durang and Ives–or, for that matter, the group of actors who play the play–is cheap or hollow. As anyone familiar with the work of these playwrights knows, they are intelligent, and their plays are full of insightful meaning. In David Ives’ Foreplay Or: The Art of the Fugue, three characters, all named Chuck (Todd E. Betker, Jeffrey Urquhart, and Anthony Bishop), take their dates, Amy, Annie, and Alma (Janelle Baker, Autumn Ayers, and Meghan Heimbecker), mini-golfing. The action that follows is like a musical fugue: A series of hilarious dating mishaps is introduced by the first pair, with the other pairs following contrapuntally.
In addition, both the title and the theme are full of meaning and double-entendre. Perhaps the most obvious pun is on “foreplay,” which, in the play’s context, refers both to actual foreplay and to their game of mini-golf. Ives recognizes that foreplay begins at the first impression: The first Chuck may say a line that flatters Amy, but is offensive to Annie, when Chuck II delivers it identically. What Chuck II’s date finds incredibly witty, Alma, Chuck III’s date, finds commonplace and dull, and so forth.
The three male actors–as well as costume designer Fang-Yi Tsen–are clearly skilled at imitation, and they work wonderfully to portray the characters as prototypical, awkward men trying to get their dates into bed. The three actresses skillfully establish their distinct personalities, heightening the humor by starkly contrasting the men. While the women are in complete control of their senses, the men are in a psychological fugue, going through motions they believe is right for them at the time, but will not remember in the morning. Foreplay provides a hilarious and intelligent commentary on the “dating game” and “battle of the sexes”–and it is like a song that is simultaneously beautiful, artistic, and incredibly stupid.
The play-by-play commentary from Tha Dogg Prophet on this piece: “Those white boys took their dates mini-golfing to get laid?” This is typical of the non-Durang-or-Ives dialogue interpolated into the evening as written by Brian Ferdman. Other notable dialogue includes scathing remarks about Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rent, Wendy Wasserstein, and Broadway. The tone of the blocking, as co-directed by Todd E. Betker and Jason Fleece, is best illustrated by the overweight drag queen in a tutu who introduces every “round” of action, thus spoofing the bikini-clad models of professional boxing. Ferdman’s writing, in short, will make purists croak; it made the opening night audience and me laugh, however.
