Latham - If you want proof of the theater axiom that claims comedy and tragedy are two sides of the same coin, attend Curtain Call Theatre’s production of “The Lyons.”
This is a work in which terrible people are terribly funny. But mixed with the laughs there are times you understand that the character’s hollow lives offer them no other choice but to strike out against each other. The good news is you laugh often, but never cry.
The central figure in the play is Ben who has been married to Rita for a very long time. He’s in a hospital bed dying of cancer. If his choice it to die or to continue to live with this unfeeling woman in a loveless marriage – to Ben, death seems the better option.
Finally, having the freedom to truthfully tell everyone what he really thinks of them, Ben does so in no uncertain terms and mostly with four letter words and hyphenated language. The humor comes from the fact that his nasty comments do not affect his wife, daughter or son. They are too involved in their own problems to even notice.
And boy do they have issues.
The daughter, Lisa, is a recently divorced single mom. She’s an alcoholic with two problem kids who is secretly dating her abusive ex-husband.
The son, Curtis, has no self-image; mostly because obviously gay as a youth, he was verbally abused and emotionally distanced from his homophobic father. His mother describes him as “a real man’s man.” He is so bad at relationships he invents boyfriends.
Rita is self-involved, self-absorbed and self-centered. She passes the time while sitting next her dying husband berating him and describing how when he dies she will spend their savings decorating the house to her own taste.
Even though the comedy is cringe worthy it’s very funny. That’s because it doesn’t take long to realize the family’s hurtful observations are the only way they have ever communicated. Though the words sound cruel, they are so matter of fact, their dysfunction it ceases to be shocking. You can laugh without feeling guilty.
The problem comes when playwright Nicky Silver tries to show the effect this upbringing has had on Lisa and Curtis.
The second act opens with a scene in which Curtis confesses his attraction to a man he has made his fantasy boyfriend. Under the direction of Steve Fletcher this scene deprives Curtis of his needy and vulnerable image. Instead he appears creepy. Because Curtis has assumed the role of confident stalker, the disastrous results of the meeting seem deserved.
Without a sympathetic character the laugher in the final scene is forced because the characters have become real. Thankfully Rita saves the scene revealing her own outrageous plans for life as a widow. The plans do not include her kids.
In the first act her actions would have seemed unfeeling. By the end of the play, they appear liberating.
Clearly the material demands strong comic performances and the cast provides them. Carol Max does wonders finding humor in Rita’s detachment from everyone and everything. This makes her monstrous behavior less repugnant and even understandable. Somehow, even during Rita’s most horrid moments Max makes her funny.
As the tormented father, Jack Fallon is a comic delight. He blusters, screams, curses and speaks harshly to his children, and yet he still elicits sympathy and laughter from the audiences.
Lisa is a poorly written character, but Carrie B. Weiss plays the passive and weepy woman with a certain compassion that makes her self-destructive behavior palatable. Patrick Rooney as Curtis is excellent as the nerdy and needy Curtis –in two out of three scenes.
“The Lyons” is a problem play, but for those who appreciate the darkest of humor it is a very funny play.
It continues through November 22 at Curtain Call Theatre 210 Old Loudon Road, Latham. Performances 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. 877-7529, curtaincall@gmail.com
Bob Goepfert is the arts editor for the Troy Record.
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