By CHRIS LOVELL
Web Editor
The curtain is set to go up in fifteen minutes, and Edwin Booth is nowhere to be seen. Enter George Spelvin, an accountant who has just been dropped into this theatrical nightmare. He quickly learns that he is the replacement for Booth, who broke both of his legs in an accident on the way to the theatre. He meets the other actors in the show, but cannot determine what show he is actually in. He prepares for his performance and as the curtain goes up, he finds himself dressed as Hamlet in a performance of Noel Coward’s Private Lives.
Trying to assist George in this chaotic performance is the stage manager, who appears throughout the performance to prompt him, all while ‘disguised’ as a house maid. George’s periodic cries for help from the maid remind the audience how hectic the situation is. After cue lines are repeatedly thrown at him, he stumbles through the unfamiliar role. To pair with the logic of the nightmare George is enduring, the play that he is performing keeps changing, from Private Lives to Hamlet to something Beckett-esque and Endgame.
Siena College Sophomore Brandon Parrillo gives a fantastic performance as the wickedly confused George Spelvin in The Actor’s Nightmare. Parrillo’s mannerisms make him a fantastic fit for the role, and he allows himself to portray this sense of urgency in his part that makes the performance stand out from others. The nervous energy that Parrillo projects also adds a great deal to the performance, allowing for the climax of The Actor’s Nightmare to come naturally, rather than with a forced feeling.
The supporting cast in The Actor’s Nightmare were a fantastic addition to Parrillo’s performance. The anger and slight confusion portrayed in each role emphasized the ideas and feelings going through any actor’s head in a situation like this. Occasionally, the supporting cast completely disregards the idea that George Spelvin doesn’t actually belong on stage alongside them, which pushes the audience further into the nightmare.
After a very precisely held intermission, the audience returns to the second performance of the night, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You. Take a trip back in time to somewhere in the 70’s, and watch as Sister Mary Ignatius presents a lecture on the basic tenants of the Catholic Church. She is joined periodically throughout the lecture by Thomas, a seven-year-old student in her class.
Halfway through her lecture, a group of her former students show up for an impromptu mock performance of the Christmas pageant, complete with the trusty camel, Misty, and the crucifixion of a baby doll. If there is one singular moment in the play where the audience takes into consideration what Sister Mary Ignatius explained at the beginning of the show, it is at the moment when choked back laughter fills the theatre while the doll is nailed to a small wooden cross.
The play continues with the unveiling of childhood trauma brought on by the teaching of Sister Mary. They all plea for some understanding from Sister Mary, but their requests fall on deaf ears while they push towards some sensitive topics that find themselves making their way back into discussion in the Catholic church.
Siena College Senior Audrey Sabatini brings her talent back to the stage in her portrayal of Sister Mary Ignatius. Previously seen in the 2013 Siena production of The Snow Queen, her return to the stage brings back a very passionate energy. Sabatini does a fantastic job of using deadpan delivery throughout the performance. The comedic timing paired with the genuine ignorance of Sister Mary are a difficult pairing, but Sabatini brings her all to the performance, and her talent really shows.
Petros Lilikas’ performance as the seven-year-old Thomas is spot on. Lilikas portrays the innocence well, with the repetition on the catechisms as well as when he sits on Sister Mary’s lap during the performance. The image created when Thomas sits on Sister Mary’s lap is tinted with inappropriateness, mostly due to the fact that grown man is portraying a seven-year-old. It might just be Lilikas’ character that makes the audience think about their past and where they might be headed for in eternity.
Shayne Peris’ direction realizes the full potential of the scripts. Peris emphasizes parts in the performance that are occasionally missed in other productions of Christopher Durang’s works. The pairing of The Actor’s Nightmare and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You worked very well, with both pieces pushing the audience to think, but only if they were looking for that extra experience. It may have been coincidence, but it is a bit comical that the show closes on Palm Sunday.
The lighting design was simple and well done. In The Actor’s Nightmare, it almost played a whole character by itself, tugging Parrillo across the stage with spot cues the character seemed unaware of. The simplicity of the design paired well with Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, being that is was set in what seemed to be one of the infamous cafetoriums of the 1970s.
The selection of music for both pre-show and intermission by Siena College sophomore Marybeth Condon was a great addition to the atmosphere of the performance. While the pre-show music choice followed a general mix of songs that had ties with themes present in The Actor’s Nightmare, the intermission mix slowly transformed from current day music to 1970s ‘Jesus music.’ Both selections worked very well with the performance.
Overall, A Night of Christopher Durang was very well done. A vastly different performance from past Siena performances at Siena College. All of the talent involved in the production helps to continue to prove that the Siena College Creative Arts Department and Stage III are among the cream of the crop of Capital Region theatre.
