Existential Angst, Plumbing Problems, and Spandex in Berkeley
We continue to think Impact Theatre is cool and wish them all the success in the world, for we feel their mission to "fill an unmet need for community, storytelling, and direct experience for younger, underserved audiences in the San Francisco Bay Area" is a great and worthy one. We also think the place in which they perform is neat, as their shows are all staged in the basement of La Val's pizza. However, both of these aspects seem to get them in trouble this time around.
When we went to see Meanwhile, Back at the Super Lair... (by Greg Kalleres) the venue proved challenging for us. There was a disconcerting, bleach-scented leak that was dripping over the back row of seats throughout the night. Though the chatter of the crowd upstairs has always seemed to be a welcome complement to the shows we have seen there, the drip drip (which later became a drip splash, as the leak enlarged) was stinky and distracting. The ushers did everything they could to manage this by encouraging the audience to sit in the first three rows, but as the seats are only slightly staggered and your reviewer is only 5 and one-half feet tall, we could not see from those rows. (It's not their fault that a team of Yetis seemed to be in town enjoying theater in those rows, but this might have been manageable if the seats were a bit more stadium-like in nature.)
Sure, complaints about seating and dripping are petty, especially when we're talking about a struggling small theater company. But if we're going to tacks about the whole experience, we have to bring this up! It is damned hard to enjoy a play when you are having a tough time seeing, and you're also worried about keeping your purse dry. We hope Impact can resolve these issues so their theater can be a cozy and pleasant place to see a show once more.
The show itself is a very funny, snappy, and crisp piece detailing the trials and tribulations of four angst-ridden, soon-to-be-unemployed members of the Super Tribe, all of whom have no superpowers whatsoever. However, with or without their help, crime has screeched to a halt in their city, so there they all sit in their laughable costumes in their illegal sub-lease. This situation is complicated by the arrival of an efficiency expert (DJ Lapite) sent to evaluate their continued employability.
The erstwhile leader of the group, The Human Fly/Tim (Pete Caslavka) broods openly about their uselessness, both to the other members of the Super Tribe and in his thrice weekly visits with his therapist (Jennifer Lucas). He settles upon a solution to his anomie -- he will become an arch-villain to bedevil the Super Tribe, again making them useful members of society and giving himself reason to go on.
It's an intriguing concept that's gamely executed by the cast. However, most of the performances were inconsistent and bumpy. All of them had flashes of greatness, but these flashes were overshadowed by a stagy quality to their acting that might have been better suited to a larger venue. We've struggled a lot with that concern -- perhaps this was instead their way of pretending to be "Super"? However, it's dubious that this is the case. That said, Caslavka gives a charming and natural performance, Alexandra Creighton (Leopard Woman) exhibits a very winning quality, and Jon Nagel (The Silver Streak) does a nice job of portraying a dork in super clothing. Steve Epperson (Rhino Man) turns in another on-key performance as a f**ked-up a**hole. (We've seen him do this twice now so well that we wonder if he really is that guy, or the performer of the century.) But all of them have an inconsistent tone both to their delivery and to their characterization. We hope that as the run continues, the bumps can be ironed out for these very promising performers.
We're always impressed by the sound design at Impact. This show put all the recent action sequence classics (the Club Bloodbath song from Blade, the Matrix lobby gunfight music, and several other songs we don't know the name to either) to great and hilarious effect with their juxtaposition with these inept heroes.
But it all comes down to how the play ends, doesn't it? And we were dissatisfied with the ending, which seemed profoundly dissonant from the glib and pop-cultural nature of the rest of the play. We don't want to give anything away, but we feel the ending is in opposition to the very mission of Impact -- for, by ending the play as the playwright did, he turned from their charming and provocative path into a dull thud of an ending, a dull thud like we hear in so many plays, and what led us to announce long ago that we hated theater.
That said, we'll always defend Impact's willingness to take risks with their productions, and are hoping we'll be invited back for their next production, Othello. We just hope they fix the leaky ceiling first.
Meanwhile, Back at the Super Lair...
November 5-December 11, 2004
Thursdays-Saturdays 8pm (no show Thu 11/25)
La Val's Subterranean, 1834 Euclid in Berkeley
All Thursday performances are pay-what-you-wish!