BWW Reviews: With Patience, OFF THE KING'S ROAD Accommodates
By: Gil Kaan Jun. 29, 2015
Off the King's Road/by Neil Koenigsberg/ directed by Amy Madigan/Odyssey Theatre/ thru August 2, 2015
The West Coast premiere of Neil Koenigsberg's Off the King's Road vividly illustrates the need for patience in dealing with your elders. The talented Tom Bower, as the widower Matt, tackles the challenge of embodying a now single, unapologetic man going through his mundane everyday routines while grappling with continuing life alone without Betty, his wife of many years. Matt has shielded himself from any social contact save the paid kindnesses of his shrink, the amiable hotel concierge and the willing prostitute. Bower shines in the scene where he reveals what really led to his Betty's demise.
On advice from his shrink Dr. Yablonsky (wonderfully played by Thaddeus Shafer), Los Angeles-based Matt travels to London "to just have fun." Dr. Yablonsky has prescribed (besides the prerequisite valium) a chalkboard for Matt to write down lists of activities, fun activities, he plans to accomplish while in London. Shafer's Dr. Yablonsky's the ideal therapist one would want for themselves (should one ever need one). Shafer's Dr. Yablonsky possesses genuine empathy and concern for Matt in spades. Shafer's intensity and bewildered reactions of shock to Matt's various tales are simply priceless. Shafer plays 'just wakened up dazed and confused' quite well, as Matt oft-times phones the doc in the middle of the night California-time. Love that the list-making psychoanalyst actually follows his own advice. Shafer enthralls as his Dr. Yablonsky attempts to convince himself, as much as he's trying to re-assure Matt, that his recommended breathing-to-calm exercises actually do work.
Matt books a room (a superior double) in a 25-room hotel named Off the King's Road, manned by Freddie, the front desk clerk and all-around man of the establishment. Michael Uribes limns the meticulous, uber-efficient Freddie in a most entertaining and charming, fully three-dimensional portrayal. Uribes' energy simply elevates all the scenes he's in. Plus, Uribe consistently maintains his British accent throughout. He even makes his canned hotel spiel sound sincere. Uribe's Freddie's the perfect personal assistant anyone in Hollywood would kill for.
The abled Casey Kramer plays the annoyingness, the desperation and the craziness of the prying resident guest Ellen so well, one wishes there were much less of her. But Kramer's so genuine in Ellen's excessive devotion to her cat Christina and so committed in her aerobic exercise efforts, Kramer well serves as this piece's hysterical comic relief. If you look up the definition of "crazy cat lady" in a dictionary, you'll see Ellen's picture right next to it.
Maria Zyrianova, slowly but surely captivates as Sheena the prostitute who's initially unsure as how to react to Matt's unconventional, non-sexual requests. Zyrianova convincingly transitions from a robot-speaking working girl to a woman coming into her own as her Sheena melts with Matt's attentiveness.
Amy Madigan, known for her very effective straight-forward, no-nonsense style of acting, directs her main character, the widowed Tom, in a very realistic, deliberate and measured pacing that requires the patience of a saintly caregiver to endure. Anyone tending for a parent with declining health (physically or mentally) will certainly commiserate.
Kudos to projection designer Yee Eun Nam for her effectual use of floor-to-ceiling video of a climactic scene from Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries;" and to set designer Joel Daavid for his detailed sets of Off the King's Road's hotel registration desk, the superior double of Matt, and Sheena's compact one-room flat. However, furniture in Matt's tight superior double could be better rearranged to accommodate the frequent movement of the oversized chalkboard.
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