[NEohioPAL] Reviw of "For Better" at Actors' Summit

[Bob Abelman]

Actors' Summit offers clever comedy about smart technology 

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the Times papers 11/12/09

 

 

"Lo!  Men have become the tools of their tools."

 

So lamented philosopher Henry David Thoreau in his reflections on the decay of humankind at the hands of new technology.

 

Of course, this was written in 1854, before the telephone.  Today, with instantaneous, omnipresent electronic communications infiltrating every facet of our personal and professional lives, we are plugged in, interconnected and multi-tasking.  Thoreau would be grief-stricken.  

 

One man's pain is local playwright Eric Coble's pleasure.  In For Better, currently on stage at the Actors' Summit theatre in Hudson, Mr. Coble offers his unique satirical perspective on how wired we have all become in this age of wireless technology.  His romantic comedy revolves around a group of young professionals and their significant others-that is, their iPhones, laptops, Bluetooths and Blackberries.   

 

Karen is preparing for her marriage to a man she has come to love through texting, tweeting and email.  Her sister, Francine, and brother-in-law, Michael, live a long-distance relationship where technology simultaneously brings them closer together and tears them further apart.  Their friends Stuart and Lizzie are excessively connected, technologically, but find themselves very much alone.

 

On the outside of all this techno-activity is Karen's father, Wally.  He is much like Thoreau--perplexed and perturbed by all these new-fangled inventions.  He yearns for the simpler times, when a phone was just a phone.

 

To showcase the miscommunication that occurs in this new age of telecommunications, the playwright rarely places his characters in the same location at the same time, yet requires them to share the stage.  Director A. Neil Thackaberry addresses this challenge by choreographing rather than staging this production.  Performers strategically and fluidly move about in the same space as if to music, engaging in e-conversation but not each other.  

 

Also well choreographed are the wonderful moments when dialogue mutates into the controlled chaos of cross-conversations, three-party conference calls, and simultaneously read instant messages and emails.  This is executed to perfection by a very talented six-member cast.

 

Less well executed are some of their acting choices.  Constance Thackaberry as Karen, Sally Groth as Francine and Larry Seman as their Dad make it difficult to find real people in the rather broadly drawn caricatures the playwright has created for them.  They have impeccable comic timing, but they tend to play their satire too big for the intimate Actors' Summit theatre space, which is inconsistent with the other performances.   

 

Keith Stevens as Michael, and Tony Zanoni and Jen Walker as his friends, Stuart and Lizzie, turn in more natural performances.  They manage to balance believable personas with absolutely hilarious delivery.  The drunken cross-continental phone conversation between Michael and Stuart is a master class in comedy.

 

A particularly impressive piece of acting involves Mr. Zanoni and the Verizon catchphrase "can you hear me now?"  Intended as a clever advertisement for trouble-free wireless service, the catchphrase has come to mean quite the opposite and is a running joke in the play.  Mr. Zanoni cleverly transforms it into his character's personal call of desperation.

 

There is no better evidence that men have, indeed, become the tools of their tools.  

 

For Better is a clever comedy about smart technology and the people who use it.  The play runs until November 22.  For tickets, which range from $26 to $29 ($7 for full time students), call 330-342-0800 or contact www.actorssummit.org. 

 
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