Review: LOOT at Desert Ensemble Theatre

As one audience member who fell asleep remarked, “Farce is hard”.  That gave the opening to this review. Farce IS hard if you don’t understand how it is to be directed so that it works effectively. This review was extremely difficult to write because Desert Ensemble Theatre is high on the list of professional quality community theatres in the desert. Their reputation is that they always choose interesting plays, assemble some of the best actors in town, and entrust the best directors to helm the creative ship. For their opening, based solely on the performance that was presented for this review, it was a huge disappointment. Finding the words for a tactful critique after watching 50% of the audience leave at intermission was a daunting task.

Was it the material? An established work that producers Jerome Elliott Moskowitz and Shawn Abramowitz knew had a successful performance history. Their good judgment picked this masterpiece of black farce by Joe Orton.  The story of LOOT follows the farcical high-jinx of Dennis (Jason Reale) and Hal (Alex Price), centered around suspected murder, robbery, family plots, and rampant hypocrisy. Written in Orton’s inimitable style, eventually dubbed “Ortonesque,” Loot focuses on characters that behave with no respect for conventional decency. It premiered in Cambridge, England in 1965, played on Broadway in 1968, and remains one of the most potent works from this master of the macabre. No, it couldn’t have been that.

Taking a look at the cast – even the talented young actor Alex Price couldn’t help pull this plodding and unenlightened version out of the Pinteresque rabbit hole it fell down. The characters are quirky and colorful, but they are lost in the translation from a crisp, witty, fast-paced British farce to a slowed, indicating, projecting, explain it all, ‘Merican version. Starting with Fay (Tessa Gregory-Walker) the nurse to the late Mrs. McLeavy, who has just died. Gregory-Walker has one of the more believable accents in the piece, she capably handles everything she is given by her director, she even made looking into the audience to deliver certain lines seem natural. However, throughout the production, the fake bright yellow shreds of Easter basket grass placed on her head resembling a wig was terribly distracting. It would have been better suited for the character of Frenchie from the musical “Grease”. There is one throwaway line about a lawsuit with her hairdresser that is supposed to justify it.

Price as the spoiled, over-sexed, only son of the deceased is a gift to the Coachella Desert theatre community because of his chameleon ability to fit into any role with uncanny character voices, various hair colors, and physical mannerism expertise. His strong presence was still trying desperately to break through every chance he had, but, alas, there was nothing he could do to crack through this one. Bad staging and inadequate, amateur, direction will always hinder the greatest performers.

Reale as Dennis who works at a funeral home, is equally over-sexed, and playing the field with both Fay the nurse, and Hal the son -- authentically looks the part of a lowly cockney rogue, but his mushy accent makes it difficult to understand three-quarters of his lines. Unfortunately, he can’t slow down the lines to be understood, because 35 minutes already needs to be shaved off to reduce the running time.

Charles Harvey as Truscott does the heavy lifting and carries most of the weight in this production. He was in charge of most of the crucial crisp pacing to make a farce work, but he was much more interested in focusing on his Scottish accent than he was in remembering his lines. His performance didn’t stop the show, but it sure did slow it down a lot.

Shel Safir who plays Mr McLeavy the husband to the deceased, and father of Hal the son, is a solid character actor who is very reminiscent of the marvelous comic Charlie Ruggles. Based on the direction even in scenes where he tried diligently to keep the rapid-fire dialog moving – he could only be so successful.

Larry Martin played the deceased Mrs McLeavy and Meadows the flamboyant London Bobby.

When you assemble a group of actors in a farce there is only so much they can do based on their own abilities and the direction they are given. The definition of FARCE is characters that are quite silly, catapulted into improbable, ridiculous situations, and are employed into exaggerated physical comedy, horseplay, and absurdly fast-paced acts of confusion. Best examples are “Noises Off”, “The Play That Goes Wrong”, “Charley’s Aunt”, “Lend Me A Tenor”, and countless others  -- Oh, and this one when executed properly.

Now to address the direction of this production. The highly anticipated vision of award-winning Director Michael Pacas was disappointing and left a lot to be desired. Deadly and heavy-handed pacing.  Amateur-level visual sight gags that were tedious and would often steal focus. Inconsistent imaginative comedic bits were peppered throughout. Maybe farce isn’t his forte? A great deal of the storyline was confusing based on where the focus was placed.  Several audience members disclosed that they were lost most of the time. The cover of the program was much more interesting than what was presented on the stage. There is a theatre company in the desert where this level of work excels, but the high caliber reputation of Desert Ensemble isn’t it.

The impressively colorful and unique 1960s paisley painted, and enlarged British flags on flats by set designer Thomas L. Valach were whimsical. They should have equally matched the same “over-the-top” presentation that was supposed to be seen on the stage. Because of that discrepancy, the walls were too overpowering for the action created underneath. Keep that amazing visual set for a British Invasion musical revue or a satirical 60s spy comedy because this current brilliance was wasted.

Being honest in this teeny-tiny desert theatre community is often looked at unfavorably. Desert Ensemble Theatre is one of those venues that strives to accomplish only the best they have to offer... again, this review is solely based on the performance that was seen for a critique. Go see LOOT and make up your own mind, but you would be hard-pressed to say this lives up to the “Michelin Star” quality offerings of the past.

Desert Ensemble Theatre’s (DET) production of LOOT by Joe Orton runs from November 15–24.  Theatre 3 at the Palm Springs Cultural Center. Performances are Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 7:30pm and Sundays at 2pm.  DET is located at the Palm Springs Cultural Center, 2300 E. Baristo Rd. in Palm Springs. For ticket and additional information call 760-565-2476 or visit www.desertensembletheatre.org.

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