Review: HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES a Confusing Madcap Drama

THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES, playing through June 18 at Raven Theatre, is a mixed bag of tone and theme. It is comedy, tragedy, drama, slapstick and farce and then ends in a dark, dark place. The American Dream is a central theme, though it means different things to each character. Secondary themes of mental illness, religion, loneliness, violence and betrayal are played out to varying levels of hysteria, which makes for a bewildering night at the theater.

Mining mental illness for laughs is tricky business. It can be done, but if it's not done really well, it's confusing at best and offensive at worst. Raven's production of John Guare's 1971 tragicomedy lies somewhere in the middle.

The mental illness is never named, but we gather that Bananas (yes, Bananas) is probably overmedicated and likely not as off her rocker as her husband and his mistress would have you believe. Kelli Strickland as Bananas ably handles this dichotomy, weaving through the story in a nightgown and bathrobe, oblivious to some things and curiously observant about others. But the performance never gets to the heart of her anguish.

Her husband, Artie, a zookeeper by day/lounge singer by night, has quiet dreams of working in Hollywood alongside his childhood pal Billy, a successful movie director. Those dreams are fueled by Artie's girlfriend, Bunny, the downstairs neighbor. Jon Steinhagen as Artie charms the audience right from the start by sitting at the piano to play some of his songs, which are all bad, though he gets an A for effort in selling them. Steinhagen -- whose performance is the glue that holds this show together -- is best when portraying this side of Artie, but there are so many layers to this character, some of which aren't peeled well enough by the end to justify what happens.

Sarah Hayes' Bunny is delusional -- in some ways more than Bananas -- in her dreams, which are to have Bananas committed to an asylum, marry Artie and ride his coattails to California while he makes it big in showbiz. The quest for fame as an attainable American Dream is more prevalent today than ever, so this aspect of the story holds up well.

The action takes place in 1965 in Artie and Bananas' Queens apartment (spectacularly designed) on the day Pope Paul VI visited New York City. The papal visit creates a palpable buzz in the neighborhood -- and in the apartment. By the middle of the second act, Artie, Bunny and Bananas are joined by three nuns (Kristen Williams, Shariba Rivers and Sophia Menendian), a deaf starlet (Jen Short), and Ronnie (Derek Herman), Artie and Bananas' son who's gone AWOL from the Army. Wackiness ensues, and not in a good way.

The general feeling of desperation comes through in this production, and there are moments of real poignancy, but the "comedy" gets in the way. From time to time, the characters directly address the audience, presumably to let us in on their motivations. Perhaps it was also Guare's way of making sense of the chaos onstage -- a smart move, but one wonders if he had employed less madcap farce and more drama if that would have been necessary. Certainly the the closing scene -- a head-scratcher of the highest order -- would have made more sense.

THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES runs through June 18 at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark. Tickets are $17-$42. Call (773) 338-2177; raventheatre.com.

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