The Real Thing
“You love her, but she loves him, and he loves somebody else, you just can’t win.” So said the J. Geils Band in a moment of trenchant clarity, and this frustrating dynamic is played out in spades in the Katselas Theatre Company’s production of Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing.” Love is merely pretext for the relentless infidelity of Stoppard’s restive characters, and one can’t shake the notion that Cupid’s arrows are often venom-tipped.
Henry, finely played by Jay Huguley, is a highly regarded writer consumed by the power of words, but is seemingly incapable of deep feeling, and is most certainly incapable of keeping his wick in his pants. His roaming eye establishes a universal pattern of carousel-like dalliances and impassioned push-and-pulls that become tedious in the end, despite the fine acting of the cast.
Kristina Kreyling plays Henry’s wife Charlotte with the cold contempt necessary to parry the writer’s caustic jibes, and Susan Duerden plays an emotional and sultry Annie, another of Henry’s conquests who eventually becomes his second bride. She, in turn, beds a fellow actor (Derek Carter) from a play which she has taken up as a cause for the unwitting, jailed political activist Brodie, humorously portrayed by the mohawked Michael Yavniel. Peter Leake as the cuckolded Max, and Anastasia Lofgren as Henry’s daughter Debbie, round out the cast, without contributing much to the story.
There are some fine moments of real pain in the production, and several witty lines, but the play suffers from a peculiar stagnation. Henry seems to never leave his desk unless he’s wandering to the bar or playing Procol Harum on the record player, and there are times when the play screams for an end, but the curtain call never comes. Several times I was unable to hear the dialogue because the action took place on a distant region of the stage, or the actors were overwhelmed by the music.
“The Real Thing” is far from boring, and the actors unquestionably give their hearts and souls, but like fractious in-laws, they simply overstay their welcome.
“The Real Thing”
runs May 2nd to June 20th at the Skylight Theatre at 1816 Vermont Avenue in Hollywood, with Friday and Saturday shows at 8 p.m. and Sunday shows at 7 p.m.