Tales from Hollywood

I never tire of taking my seat at the Guthrie Theater, and I have a certain weakness for the Wurtele Thrust Stage.  I hate to say that a play has an advantage if it's staged on the Thrust, but I rather think maybe it does get a leg up.

Undue advantage aside, Tales from Hollywood is a solid opener to the 2012-2013 season. The first of three Christopher Hampton plays to be staged this season, Hollywood follows the awkward, often stunted, often humorous travails of a fictionalized Odon Von Horvath.  Had Odon not been killed by a falling tree branch, what might his experience have been as an emigre in WWII-era Hollywood?

The staging for the show is inspired, calling to mind the newsreels and sound stages and "Action!" one pictures in those golden years of Hollywood.  Odon is joined by Brecht, played impeccably by Stephen Yoakam, who snaps his fingers at every entrance, causing a flood of light to hit the audience.  Brecht, of course, never wanted the audience to forget that they were watching a play. The timing of the lights, the transition from scene to scene, the use of image and sound and music to create specific places, all were fantastic.

I struggled with engaging a couple of the characters.  I thought Allison Daughtery's performance as Nelly Mann, wife to Heinrich Mann (a fantastic, if heartbreaking, portrayal by Keir Dullea), though not lacking in bravery, lacked connection.  I never quite understood what Nelly was so upset about.  It was only after her exit, and Heinrich's final scene, that I glimpsed any wisp of real guts in the girl-child. To me, the character came across as coarse and shallow, without adequate background to give one a sense for why such traits were important. She was simply a character I never understood and never really felt sorry for, despite the tragedy of her end.

Stephen Yoakam continues to inspire me.  His turn in Burial at Thebes was one of my favorites, and he masterfully embodied Brecht this time around. He managed to make a character who is all vinegar still a character you ache to understand and cheer for. It was that component that I lacked with Nelly.  I don't need to like her, but it would have been nice to care.

All in all, a great show with some of the most visually exciting staging I've seen recently.  A great show to kick off the season.  Appomattox is next on my agenda, and I'm anxious to compare Hampton plays seen back to back. It probably takes a real theater nerd to get excited about that, but I'll accept that title happily.

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