Half of Plenty
Suburban paranoia runs amok in Lisa Dillman’s social satire that holds out plenty of promise, but only lives up to half of its potential. With times as hard as they are right now, Dillman makes them even harder, albeit not altogether funnier, as she examines several key issues; financial hardship, filial responsibility, racial intolerance, personal disappointments and lowered expectations until it becomes a melting pot of generalized panic and chaos. Developed by Steppenwolf, the Rogue Machine’s West Coast premiere attempts to deconstruct -- quite literally, with an ingenious set designed by Stephanie Kerley Schwartz that shimmies and shakes as the walls of the bungalow close in – the spiraling subplots only half realized even under Barbara Kallir’s sharp direction.
A young couple, Marty (John Pollono) and Holly Tindall (Carolyn Palmer) get more than they bargained for when they move their ailing father, Jack (Robert Mandan), into their new home and are accosted by an overzealous HOA organized by a pair of welcome-wagon vigilantes, Hector (Ron Bottitta) and Mitzi Zook (Betsy Zajko). Intent on keeping the neighborhood in its cookie-cutter mold, the Zooks display a hyper-inflated hysteria and a keen suspicion for anything out of the ordinary, resorting to surveillance and terrorism with homeland pride, “We think globally, but act locally.”
At home, Marty feels less than the head of the household, and more like the heel as his father shuns and confuses him with his former caretaker brother, Andy, and bitter resentment develops from his work-at-home medical transcribing wife Holly, forced to pick up the slack. Vulnerable to the Zooks’ steely resolve to take back control, Marty finds himself sucked into the neighborhood vigil that preys on his insecurities, escalating from observation, trespassing, sabotage and eventually, a destructive car bomb. Home becomes a war zone, with Marty and Holly on opposing sides as Jack wiles away his days shredding newspapers from his Lazy-Boy armchair, pausing only when nearby airplane traffic routinely rumbles over the house. Even in the best of circumstances, it seems peace and quiet is unattainable in this subdivision hellhole.
Although relevant, the play loses focus in the second act and much of its wry humor as the terror explodes, and Marty’s actions alienates Holly until her only meaningful relationship is a brief emotional affair with a doctor’s gilded entreaties and her dementia-addled father-in-law. Convenient plot twists and distracting exposition never really amounts to anything pertinent and detracts from the real message lost in the zany antics of the Zooks and the emotional exhaustion of the Tindalls.
Most of the comedy relies too much on the Zook characters, which Bottitta and Zaijko take full advantage of, hamming it up instead of playing it down. Bottitta has some better moments, particularly in the brainwashing of Marty, when a slick, commiserate attitude belies his character’s otherwise ignorant buffoonery. Palmer and Pollono are adequate but fail to listen and respond actively to the other members of the cast. Much of the action between these actors inevitably does not hold one’s rapt attention. However, Mandan’s superb performance as a frustrated and confused elderly senior makes up for this loss proving it to be next to impossible not to keep a close eye on him throughout.
There is plenty to poke fun at in these uncertain times, but like the times, one feels like they only got half of what they deserved from Dillman’s quirky distortion of suburbia strain.
“Half of Plenty”
Runs through June 21
Thurs, Fri, and Sat at 8pm
Sundays at 7pm
Theater Theater
5041 Pico Boulevard
(West of La Brea)
Los Angeles, 90019
PH: 323-960-7774
www.roguemachinetheatre.com