The name of playwright Christopher Durang stands out in my mind as one of the more interesting contemporary stage authors. This is kind of odd, as I can only recall actually seeing a few of his plays. And while I don�’t have terribly strong feelings for The Marriage of Bette and Boo, there was a love of storytelling in it that made it an interesting night at the theatre. Mrs. Bob Cratchit�’s Wild Christmas Binge was intentionally silly without much depth, but kind of fun nonetheless. The one play that my entire impression of the playwright seems to stem from is Betty�’s Summer Vacationa deeply surreal comedy that is as funny as it is disturbing. The Windfall Theatre production I saw of that really amped-up the surreal without doing anything in particular with the staging.
This month, the Bay Players present three of Durang�’s one-acts. Of the three--The Actor�’s Nightmare has the most in common with the overall spirit of Betty�’s Summer Vacation. Inspired by the nightmare of being called onstage to perform and having completely forgotten all of one�’s lines, TAN is about a man suffering from amnesia of some sort is thrust onstage in a production of three simultaneous plays. It�’s a staggeringly original premise that should be interesting to see performed.
The other two are also forged from a love of theatre. In Desire, Desire, Desire we see Blanche DuBois trying to seduce a young census worker. For Whom The Southern Belle Tolls is more of a straight-ahead parody of The Glass Menagerie. Those last two seem more in the spirit of Mrs. Cratchit�’s Wild Christmas Binge, which looked to mix characters from A Christmas Carol with at least one from It�’s A Wonderful Life for comic effect.
The Bay Players�’ three Durang shorts run April 8th through 16th at the Whitefish Bay High School Auditorium on 1200 East Fairmount Avenue. All shows start at 8pm. For further information, call 414-299-9040.
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