Review: 3XPirandello
By Louise Gallanda
Fringe Propaganda

It is 1910 Italian Style. Unfaithful wives, once discovered, are turned out and stripped of their children without recourse. Women shoot themselves, à la Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.

The trick for husbands is extracting the confession. So goes The Vise, the first one-act of 3XPirandello, chosen because it was Luigi Pirandello's first one-act play, and to demonstrate Pirandello's development as a playwright.

These stories of love and relationships come to the Fringe via the New York based Horizon Theatre Rep, a two year old company dedicated to the revival of classics.

Director Rafael De Mussa is to be commended for his skillful mounting and understanding of Pirandello's mind. The Vise, perhaps a take on his wife's neurotic jealousy when Pirandello was a teacher, deals explicitly with the triple sins of adultery, cruelty, and betrayal of friendship, underneath explores the border between truth and perception. The cast's stylized acting conveys the period well, but requires more maturity to convey its deeper themes. Though youthful and naive, Caroline de Fauw conveys the tension inherent in the cheating game. Royston Innes as the husband and Paul Ulloa as the love interest provide enough machismo to balance the piece. Kymberly Tubbs' maid nicely rounds the cast. The use of a full-length mirror is confusing. Is it a window onto reality, or a mirror into the true self?

Written ten years later, Chee Chee, in which the director takes the title role, explores the game of identity. Who is as he appears to be? Chee Chee wheels, deals, charms, is a gentleman and ne'er-do-well. His friend, played by Gary Carlson, helps him manipulate Nada, played with sophistication and scornful dignity by Samantha Dark. Carlson steals the act with deliciously delivered monologues revealing his range and charm. His character personifies Pirandello's premise that who we are fluctuates according to whom we are with.

The last play, I'm Dreaming, But Am I?, alternates between dream and reality, illusion and perception. De Fauw and Innes are lovers dancing around each other over a string of pearls. Who gave them to her — and when — provides the focal point of the play. Again jealousy is the motif. The mental state of de Fauw's Young Lady fluctuates admirably, adding layers to an already complicated piece. Innes again provides just the right balance.

Two problems, the lighting changes delineating dream/reality sequences are identical to the play breaks and the play's abrupt ending, can be resolved. Salvatore Tagliarino's set design consists of a row of period chairs, a small table, a gilded mirror faced front, and a painting of Cupid and Venus, harbinger of the entanglements to follow. Limited to one table for props, the cast used the same two glasses. Alan Baron's light design underscored the emotional content of the play by providing a balance of mood and intensity, while Margarita Dudkevich's sound devise of a synthesized heartbeat sustained the motif of emotional entanglements between acts.

Costumes by T. Michael Hall take the prize for scrupulously chosen ensembles with characterization as the criterion. Elegant day dresses, hats, lingerie, suits, even a waiters's and maid's uniform displaying Hall's grasp of the script's requirements and the physical characteristics of the actors.

The setting, Teatro 214, presented the biggest obstacle. Although the interior of the house was more than suitable for intimacy, street noise proved very distracting. Overall, the choice of mounting these obscure plays provides a treat for Pirandello fans and all lovers of not-in-your-face theatre.

 

Another review: Backstage