Navigating the Rough Crossing with The REP

By Mike Logothetis
Theater reviewer Mike Logothetis grew up in North Wilmington, performing in school and local theater productions. He lives in Newark, but you can find him wherever the arts are good.

The Tom Stoppard absurdist comedy Rough Crossing began its run at the University of Delaware Resident Ensemble Players’ (The REP) campus home this weekend. The show entertains with witty banter and lots of visual pizzaz.

(L-R): Stephen Pelinski, Hassan El-Amin, Mic Matarrese, Elizabeth Heflin, Michael Gotch
star in The REP's production of Rough Crossing. Photo courtesy of The REP.

While its zaniness may go overboard in places, it is a pleasing production which satisfies on multiple levels. Liberally adapted from celebrated Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár’s Play at the Castle, the show sees playwrights Sandor Turai (Stephen Pelinski) and Alex Gal (Hassan El-Amin) onboard the SS Italian Castle as they work on their latest musical The Cruise of the Dodo. Both writers are hoping to refresh their careers by working with an up-and-coming composer, the anxious and lovelorn Adam Adam (Michael Gotch).

Adam has a tic which manifests as delayed verbal responses to questions. Naturally, every conversation which includes him loses its way because of his inability to keep up. The nervous Adam is engaged to one of the stars of the show — the glamorous Natasha Navrátilova (Elizabeth Heflin). But when Adam overhears Natasha’s co-star Ivor Fish (Mic Matarrese) agonizingly confess hisunwavering love for her on her cabin balcony 
— “Let the whole world know that I mean nothing to you. I’m a dashed Martini!” — the writers must work to keep Adam engaged and alive. Nautical nonsense ensues on a tropical themed ship set created by scenic designer Stefanie Hansen.

Typically, Stoppard’s work is the star, but for this production the physical theater is the feature. Hansen has created three beautiful and complex settings for the director Ian Belknap to utilize. The most dynamic and lush décor is the setting for Act II: the “Pisa Room.” The performance space has art deco-influenced lines and moving leaning towers (of Pisa). Even the chandeliers sway with the ship’s movements.

In Act II, Natasha and Ivor rehearse their patently awful Dodo dialog in a ridiculous plot which keeps changing, per the direction of Gal and Turai. They take mini smoke and make-up breaks between musical numbers and feedback. Heflin and Matarrese lean into wacky melodrama, prancing around the ship’s rehearsal space and making constant digs at Turai’s ridiculous writing. All the while, the ultimate goal is to get Adam back in a good headspace so they can finish the show.

The running gag for the cabin steward Dvornichek (Lee E. Ernst) is his misunderstanding of Turai’s requests and constantly downing his ordered cognac. Of course, this can only take place after the dim-witted Dvornichek learns proper nautical terminology. As for Gal, the man simply cannot stop grazing on whatever food is present.

Kudos to actor El-Amin for not mumbling lines with a full maw or even choking!

Another highlight is the live music provided by pianist Charlie Gilbert. Gilbert has no lines, but adds accompaniment and interludes during which silent actors Kyle Montanez and Mackenzie Speed entertain. Gilbert can be found either on a rising stage apron or on stage with the cast. The show ends happily in a cabaretstyle finale with curtain call.

Performances of Rough Crossing run November 7-24. Informal talkbacks with the cast take place following the evening performances on Thursday, November 14 and Friday, November 22. Two “prologues” occur on Saturday, November 16 and Sunday, November 24. Tickets prices range from $35-39 with discounts available for students, seniors, plus University of Delaware faculty and staff. 

Tickets can be purchased online at www.rep.udel.edu; by contacting The REP box office at 302-831-2204; or visiting in person at 110 Orchard Road Tuesdays through Fridays from 12:00 to 5:00pm. The show runs approximately 2.5 hours with one 15-minute intermission between acts.

The Thompson Theatre at the Roselle Center for the Arts is located on the University of Delaware’s Newark campus and is ADA-compliant. It is equipped with a hearing loop system, which works with hearing aid t-coils, cochlear implants, and in-house hearing devices. Wheelchair and other seating requests can be made prior to the performance by calling the box office or emailing cfa-boxoffice@udel.edu.

“The women and children don’t give an inch on this boat” – Alex Gal

The Real Thing at the Chapel Street Players

Tom Stoppard’s 1982 play, The Real Thing, is a beautifully constructed kaleidoscope which shows us how relationships ebb and flow and gives us the fly-on-the-wall view that would never be possible to have in real life.

The play has so many British cultural references that the cast took the challenge and all mastered some very good British accents and Thomas Russell, who played Billy, mastered a natural and convincing Scots accent. They pulled off the Stoppard word-play quite blithely even though the full and mostly American audience on opening night did not always understand the joke.

The characters are mostly actors and playwrights and it is perhaps for that reason that they find it so hard to communicate in a straightforward manner. Two philanderers in the crowd even find it impossible to tell their spouses they want to leave them until they finally get caught (Phew!). Before long, though, one of the flighty lovebirds decides they need to stray from the new relationship.

 

Stoppard could have been and supposedly was writing about his own life. He left his first wife to take up with an actress in one of his plays. But whether or not he meant to write a biographical essay, he went quite deeply into the psychological aspects of relationships, illustrated their shortcomings, and ended his play with an optimistic view of love.

Jeremiah Dillard as Henry and Georgiana Staley as Annie (above)did a wonderful job of showing how the first blush of love wears thin quickly in a passionate affair. Their development after they move in together is what makes the play an absorbing study of life and love. When Brodie the soldier appears in their flat after years of influencing Henry and Annie from afar, they both realize where their priorities lie. Their final scene provides an end to their constant search for something better.

The Real Thing runs September 21st, 22nd, 27th, 28th, 29th at 8 p.m. and September 23rd at 2 p.m.

See www.chapelstreetplayers.org