[NEohioPAL] Berko review: TIGERS BE STILL @ Dobama

[Roy Berko]

*TIGERS BE STILL*…a slight comedy about depression



Roy Berko



Member, American Theatre Critics Association



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Have you ever had an American cheese, mayonnaise and white bread sandwich?  You
finished it and for a while are satisfied, but never thought much about it
afterwards?  That’s my reaction to TIGERS BE STILL.  I saw it, left the
theatre, walked to my car with a friend and talked about our dinner that
evening, got into the car, listened to the seventh game of the World Series
on the way home, and didn’t think about the play again until the next
morning, when I saw the platbill on my desk.



This is not to say TIGERS BE STILL is bad.  It’s perfectly okay…like an
American cheese, mayonnaise and white bread sandwich.  It’s just not
exciting or memorable.  The message of “you are responsible for your own
actions” is clear, the plot flows right along with some quirky inserts, but
nothing screams out, “pay attention to this.”



Playwright Kim Rosenstock said, of TIGERS BE STILL, that she “wanted to
write a comedy about depression.”  She did.  Not a great comedy about
depression, but a less than depressing comedy about depression.



TIGERS BE STILL examines the lives of a mother, two sisters, a former beau
of the mother who is now a junior high principal, and his son.  All are
dysfunctional.  The mother has a disease, which forces her to take a drug
that causes severe weight gain.  A former beauty, she crawls into bed, has
not come out of her room for months, and communicates with her daughters,
who live in the same house as the mother, by telephone.  Her husband walked
out when she became bedroom bound.



Her oldest daughter has called off her impending wedding because her fiancé
cheated.  She is in deep depression, drinking and eating with abandon, and
lying on the living room couch watching over and over again a Depends
commercial, and a video of TOP GUN, while having a sexual fling with the
octogenarian mailman.



The youngest daughter, who just completed her MA in art therapy, has been
hired to teach at a junior high by her mother’s ex-boy friend and also to
counsel his angst-filled and angry son.  She is as needy as the rest of her
psychotic brood.



The principal is grief stricken and acting off-kilter due to the sudden
death of his wife.  The son, who was responsible for his mother’s death,
when he lost control of the car he was driving, has a rage problem.  Guess
what?  They are both depressed.



The play ends with the line, “And, that’s how my mother got out of bed.”  That
gives a broad hint of how the whole saga works itself out.



Dobama’s production, under the direction of Mark Moritz, is fine.  The pace,
movements, idea development, and characterizations are all on track.  Nothing
great, nothing bad.



Rachel Gehlert is like the Energizer bunny on speed.  She is delightful,
quirky and makes Sherry, the art therapist, fun.  Well, as fun as a
depressed person can be.



Kristy Cruz, is fine as the depressed older sister.  She appropriately makes
depressed look depressing.



Mark Mayo adds a quirky twist to the role of the Principal, but one can only
wonder why a school board would continue to employ someone “so out of
it.”  But,
this interpretation of a principal seems to be the trend…think Principal
Figgens in GLEE.



Joe Dunn gives a nice interpretation to the role of the guilt-ridden
teenager.  His “why I didn’t shoot the tiger speech” is excellent.



Oh, the title.  A tiger has broken out of the local zoo and the citizenry is
very depressed over what might take place if someone is confronted by the
animal.



*Capsule judgement*:  TIGERS BE STILL, which gets a nice production at
Dobama, isn’t the kind of play that will long be remembered.  It’s not a
don’t see nor a must see kind of offering.



TIGERS BE STILL plays at Dobama through November 13.  For tickets call 216-
932-3396 or go to http://dobama.org
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