Review: THIS SIDE OF THE DIRT Treats Texans to a Taste of Themselves

THIS SIDE OF THE DIRT is a south Texas comedy written in the vein of the popular Texas plays Dearly Beloved, Christmas Belles and Southern Hospitality. These are shows that rake in the cash and please their small town Texas audiences in community theatres all over the great State of Texas. And it's often because Texans see themselves in these plays. THIS SIDE OF THE DIRT is not unlike those shows. It's more racy than the series of plays written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, but if Carol Burnett did a sketch based on the characters in the series Dallas, they might look like this.

Wealthy oil heir Jean Ann (Jona Juul Hansen) is discovered in the opening scene flailing about on her sofa in grief over her father's death. She's been drinking wine, and out of a straw at that. Her husband the mechanical engineer Jimmy (Wray Crawford) bailed on her directly after the funeral. He took himself to Port A to think and reflect and go fishing. He's left his wife to grieve and recover with the help of her best friends the slutty Sally (Beth Shea) and her devoted Juan (Mark Hernandez) who, though he's a millionaire thanks to oil strikes on his land, still unobtrusively behaves like a wise old hired hand to Jean Ann. The barely grown children Jenny (Jennifer Caplan) and Anthony (Jae McCain) round out this family that is grieving the loss of their beloved Papo.

The character of Jean Ann drives the plot of the story, attempting to alleviate her insecurities by only making them worse. She's clung to a series of rumors that contribute to her unraveling through the show. She's a rigid woman whose pain and fear cause her to take matters from bad to worse. Eventually, Jean manages to alienate everyone in her family, her fear turning to homicidal ideation. She believes her children (who are step-brother and sister, though exactly how this came to be is not explained) are having an affair with one another, her daughter is pregnant, her husband is having an affair with another woman, and she's refused to fully forgive her best friend Sally for having a lifelong affair with her father. In the end, the spirit of her father Papo helps her to remember who she is and the importance of her husband, family and friends. And besides, none of those rumors are true, except for the part about Sally.

If you were raised in or have lived in Texas (not just Austin) for any length of time, you'll recognize these characters. Playwright Tito Beveridge and director Ty Roberts make no apologies for the broad interpretation chosen in depicting the story and characters, so bawdy and raucous performances can be expected. However, to some degree there seemed to be a disappointingly missed opportunity with this play. Jona Juul Hansen plays Jean Ann farcically, and does it very well, however, in doing so, she is robbed as a fine actress, and so are we, the audience, of finding the humanity in Jean Ann that would draw us into this play and root for her in the end. Most of the other actors follow suit, performing their roles loudly and broadly. The critical element of compassion for Jean Ann gets lost in an attempt to squeeze all the humor out of the show as possible. We're left watching actors act rather than watching a story unfold. Wray Crawford and Beth Shea do, however, try their best to bring authenticity to the roles they play.

All in all though, the playwright and director have done what they set out to achieve. THIS SIDE OF THE DIRT does indeed have an over the top farcical flavor, which is clearly intended and stated in the program. Given the reaction of the nearly full house on last Saturday night, they were successful with the audience. Furthermore, this audience was made up mostly of new theatre goers and with new audiences of this size, Tito and Ty could help expand the Austin theatre scene. And there's nothing wrong with that.

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