Review: 3XPirandello
By Irene Backalenick
Back Stage

In this absorbing production, Horizon Theatre Rep. has combined three rarely seen one-acts by Luigi Pirandello. Though all three stories unfold in different eras, from 1910 to 1931, all three capture a decadent European scene. In this unsettling Pirandellian world, men and women play games, battling with and deceiving each other. Betrayal is the name of the game, the unifying theme. But who is the betrayer, who the betrayed? Pirandello doesn't give it away easily, and viewers are at times left to sort out the victims from the victors.

Actors in this competent company play several roles, challenging their versatility as they create different characters and moods. The opening play, in which a wife pays a heavy penalty for adultery, is essentially tragic. It is a world where the husband is king and where they take no prisoners. The second piece is in a lighter vein, where a clever unscrupulous man exploits everyone around him, turning them into fools. The third piece is a disenchanted commentary on romance, where it's all a gamble, and love is spelled out in pearl necklaces.

Under Rafael De Mussa's unerring direction, Royston Innes, Caroline de Fauw, Paul Ulloa, Kymberly Tubbs, Gary Carlson, Samantha Dark, and De Mussa himself play out these scenes. Innes in particular, gives strong performances, first as an avenging husband and later as a duped lover. De Fauw, too, gets to play contrasting roles of victim and victor, which, though affecting, are not without flaws. Too often she gazes at the audience and recites her lines, which tends to alienate her from the action. In other roles, De Mussa is fascinating as the devilishly clever scam man, and both Ulloa and Carlson are solid in smaller roles.