[NEohioPAL] Berko review: AUTOBAHN (CWRU MFA Acting Program)

[Roy Berko]

‘AUTOBAHN,’ an
interesting trip by CWRU MFA program
 
Roy Berko
 
(Member, American Theatre
Critics Association)
 
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 Neil LaBute, the author
of ‘AUTOBAHN,’ which is now being staged by Case Western Reserve’s MFA Acting
Program, is a wordsmith.  He once
said, "I can sit and watch two people talk forever as long as the talk is
good,"  Talking good, in this
case, is talking about what words mean and how people do and do not understand
them.
 
LaBute, a minimalist,
tends to use few physical settings in order to concentrate all of the attention
on the actors and what they are saying.  ‘AUTOBAHN’ is a perfect case in point.  The author places the short play cycle, in which the seven
segments are unrelated, in the front seat of a car, while each of the scenes
centers on the pondering of a word or a few words and their usage.
 
The format allows us a
voyeuristic peek into the intimate lives of those who are under LaBute’s boring
drill.  He probes deeply, as is his
style, to try and discover relationships and life.
 
"Funny," shows
a mother bringing her troubled daughter back from yet another rehab
facility.  The mother does not
speak throughout the scene, but her facial expressions nonverbally give a vivid
picture of frustration and defeat.  The key word in this piece is “relapse." 
 
“Long Division," is
a humorous and pathetic look at a male friend trying to console his buddy after
a break-up. 
 
"Merge" finds
us eavesdropping on a woman supposedly telling her husband of a “true” but
bizarre incident that happened to her while she was out-of-town at a convention
and woke up “feeling sore down there.”  Did the incident really happened as related? 
 
“All Apologies” delves
into relationships by using the humor of “inappropriate” words to show emotions
and how the lack of an expansive vocabulary can thwart effective
communication.  
 
With all the media
attention given to improper relationships between teachers and students, “Road
Trip” hits many raw nerves and is the most upsetting of the selections.  It is an intense look into the
manipulative mind of a psycho driver's education teacher, who entices one of
his young female students to go to his family’s cabin in a secluded site.
 
"Bench Seat,"
exposes us to a fragile woman who has been “dumped” by her previous boyfriend
and finds herself at the same lover’s lane where the rejection took place.  Her present relationship seems heading
in the same direction, and her paranoia is evident as the duo wavers between
making out and serious and potentially dangerous talk.
 
The final scene is
"Autobahn," which shows a couple driving home from returning their
foster child to the adoption agency because of the boy's bad behavior.   The boy has accused the foster
father of sexual abuse.  The woman
babbles on trying to justify their actions.   Her husband speaks not a sound.   The key word in this playlet is
“Autobahn,” the German road where each person is in his/her own bubble, setting
the rules of road, and allowing themselves to be sheltered from life in their
own way.  As the mother says,
people in cars are "too quick to stop, too fast to care." 
 
The production, under the
adept directing of Alan Rosenberg, is good theatre.  Though some of the pieces are a little  too long, especially ‘Bench Seat” and
“Autobahn,” the over-all experience is positive.
 
Highlight performances
are put in by Tom White and Leigh Williams.  White is the man in “All Apologies” who manically babbles on
trying to find a way to apologize with a limited arsenal in  his vocabulary.  Williams, as the foster mother in
‘AUTOBAHN’ who refuses to face reality, is appropriately paethic.  After using excessive words to prove
their points, they both go on to prove that silence is a powerful stage
tool.  Williams as the silent mother
in “Funny” and White as the emotionally destroyed foster father in “Autobahn,”
display tortured blank faces that are palates of meaning.  
 
CAPSULE JUDGMENT:  ‘AUTOBAHN’ is an engrossing evening of
theatre, given a fine production by the CWRU MFA Acting Program cast.  (Side though:  Can’t the institution come up with a more user-friendly name
for the program?) 
 
‘AUTOBAHN’ run until
March 28 in the Studio One Theatre at the Cleveland Play House .  For tickets call 216-795-7000.
 
 
 Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 2009, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info

His reviews can also be found on www.coolcleveland.com and NeOHIOpal (to subscribe visit http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal.)