Home  Entertainment Reviews “Hurlyburly” by David Rabe
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“Hurlyburly” by David Rabe |
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Written by Barry Gaines
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last updated Wednesday, February 28, 2007, at 13:40:46
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David Rabe’s “Hurlyburly” opened off Broadway in 1984 and won Tony Awards for best play, best actor, and best actress. Last year, the play was successfully reprised on Broadway, maintaining its impact over twenty years. University of New Mexico students are now performing “Hurlyburly” at Theatre X, and the fine ensemble cast members skillfully become the compulsively verbal characters.
“Hurlyburly” is set in the slovenly Hollywood Hills apartment where charismatic Eddie holds court with three other men who are also on the fringes of the film industry. Phil plays bit parts as a thug, some on film. Violence ripples beneath his surface. Mickey is the cynical realist who enjoys baiting Eddie. One character calls him “too laid back for human tolerance.” And Artie is a semi-successful screenwriter who covets Eddie’s friendship. These men are not youngsters; they have children and complicated pasts. Yet their obsession is drugs--weed, blow, ’ludes, and good old alcohol--and their discussion centers around women, sex, and existential angst. Three women briefly enter this misogynistic world. Mickey finds Donna living in the elevator and brings her as a sex toy for the others. Eddie is attracted to photographer Darlene but treats her cruelly. And Bonnie is an artistic stripper (she works with a balloon) who sleeps with anyone. Eddie calls her to show Phil a good time. Meghan Suella Bode, Jen Stephenson, and Kristen D. Simpson undertake the female roles with flair and pathos. Rabe writes long, self-indulgent, stream-of-consciousness monologues for his male characters, and the actors handle them well. Director Jeff Andersen keeps his cast moving, varying the rhythm of the speakers. Ryban Savage plays troubled Eddie in high gear from the opening scene. He portrays pharmaceutically challenged with rapid-fire gusto, and his character is, perhaps, more obnoxious when sober. Zachary James Sears avoids the hysterical as Mickey, speaking more slowly and with more thought than Eddie. Scott Wickman imbues subtle interest in Artie. Benjamin Liberman plays complex and disturbing Phil as a fascinating mix of dense, dangerous, and defenseless. At three hours (including two intermissions), the play is too long, and the drunken babble becomes repetitive, the quarrels trivial. Judicious pruning would help. However, comments like Eddie’s insight, “Everywhere I turn I have to face my own depravity,” cut through the drug-induced haze and strike a nerve. If You Go WHAT: “Hurlyburly” by David Rabe WHEN: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. through February 25 WHERE: Theatre X, lower level, UNM Center for the Arts HOW MUCH: $10 general public, $8 faculty and seniors, $7 staff and students. Call 821-1543 for ticket information. Mature themes and adult language.
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About Reviewers D.S. Crafts (Website) Composer Daniel Steven Crafts came to New Mexico from San Francisco where he had hosted a classical music radio program on KPFA. His first commission from opera star Jerry Hadley, "The Song & the Slogan" based on texts by Carl Sandburg was made into a TV program for the PBS network winning an Emmy for Best Music. His opera La Llorona, a collaboration with novelist Rudolfo Anaya will be presented by the National Hispanic Cultural Center in October, 2008. In 2007 the New Mexico Symphony commissioned him to write the commemoration piece for its 75th anniversary. Collaborating with cartoonist Shannon Wheeler, he created the satiric/comic opera Too Much Coffee Man which premiered in 2006. His music has been recorded by the Kiev and Czech Philharmonics and the Prague Radio Symphony Chorus and Orchestra for the Masterworks of the New Era series available on the ERM label. Two CDs of his music, Contemporaries (short, satirical keyboard works) and ARIAS (excerpts from operas) have been released on the BACAT label.
David Steinberg David Steinberg has covered state government, the courts, city and county government in Santa Fe for the Albuquerque Journal. He's been an arts writer for the past 20 years, and serves as the book editor, for the Journal. Over the years, he's also acted in plays, sung in choruses and played trumpet.
Jennifer Noyer Jennifer Noyer has been writing dance reviews for the Albuquerque Journal for 17 years, as well as contributing articles for Dance Magazine and other art journals. She trained in dance with Hanya Holm in New York City and Colorado Springs, and studied several dance techniques at the graduate level at the University of Michigan. After teaching dance at Wayne State University she entered and completed a Masters Degree in Humanities there. In New Mexico Ms. Noyer has taught, directed, and choreographed contemporary dance for several years. Her writing on dance includes a monograph accompanying the video of choreographer Bill Evens’ ballet “The Legacy.” An overview of Evans’s world wide career, it was written and published during his tenure at the University of New Mexico. Ms. Noyer’s studies in the humanities, and her studio dance work influence her approach to dance as an integrative art form in the United States.
Barry Gaines Barry Gaines has taught Shakespeare in the University of New Mexico English Department for over twenty-five years and has received two outstanding teaching awards. He has written theater reviews for the Journal since 2000. He has attended theater all over the world including Shakespeare productions in Russia, South Africa, Denmark, and Poland. He has also served as literary advisor for two professional theater companies and written performance reviews for Shakespeare Quarterly. Gaines has taken two years of acting with Paul Ford and appeared in small parts in three plays at the Albuquerque Little Theater. He believes that he is probably a better reviewer than actor.
Joanne Sheehy Hoover Joanne Sheehy Hoover, music critic emeritus of the Albuquerque Journal, has written for NPR, PBS, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Symphony, among others. She has also been a music lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates and a music critic and arts writer for The Washington Post. She was director of the Levine School of Music, one of the country’s largest community music schools, in Washington, D. C. 1980-1993. She and her husband moved to Corrales, New Mexico in July 1993. Also a poet, her fifth collection, “Einstein in New Mexico,” was published in 2002.
Marissa Greenberg Marissa Greenberg is a member of the faculty of the University of New Mexico English Department, where she teaches Shakespeare and early English literature. A prior guest reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal, Greenberg will be reviewing theater while Barry Gaines is out of town. She also composed and edited the program notes for last year’s Albuquerque Shakespeare Festival and has written performance reviews for Shakespeare Bulletin. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, Greenberg has been performing and studying drama for most of her life. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to review for the Journal.
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