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When a woman needs a man
Sheila Callaghan's "Crumble,' by Flashpoint Theatre
Jim Rutter
Flashpoint Theatre seeks to produce "socially provocative and emotionally resonant works," according to its website. The company's 2008 production of Kathleen Tolan's sophomoric Memory House exemplified the pitfalls in social-issue plays. But Flashpoint's current staging of Sheila Callaghan's allegorical Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) demonstrates the power of the company's mission.
Callaghan's play addresses (even if unintentionally) the question, "What would women do without men?" Or in this case, how would a distraught mother (Gigi Naglak) and disturbed daughter Janice (Sara Madden) function when they lose the one man in their lives who mattered?
Their house tells them the answer. Crumbling from disrepair, and dressed like a cross between a hobo and an aristocrat, David Stanger personifies an institution— the nuclear family— now in serious disrepair. "I was a mansion once," he intones. But after surviving intact through plague, war and desolation, he must now implore these two women to "touch me" and "fix me."
No such luck. Instead of renovating either the house or their lives, Mom seeks advice from her divorced, cat-hoarding sister (Amanda Grove), a barren woman who can only dish out the banal advice found in Oprah's Book Club. Janice— though adorable and sympathetic in Madden's characterization— fills her Christmas wish list with bomb construction components, and serves bleach to the "friends" she invites to tea parties. Although Mom might provide financially (by working as a chef), she can't supply the emotional buttressing Janice needs, let alone detect the pre-teen's obvious depression.
Instead of communicating or working through their problems, mother and daughter indulge in fantasies of their respective generation's "perfect man." A consoling Harrison Ford gives backrubs while listening to mom's "hard day at work" stories, and a tween-titillating Justin Timberlake bursts into Janice's bedroom to assuage her sorrows with song. As portrayed by Matthew Hultgren, both of these imaginary companions offer no help or guidance (although Hultgren provides an enjoyable impersonation of the pop star).
Flashpoint's outgoing artistic director, Michael Osinski, finesses the production with dark humor and a clever use of Dan Soule's set. But the choices in Maria Shaplin's lighting undermine the allegory by failing to create sufficiently sharp enough breaks between Stanger's monologues, Hultgren's fantasy appearances and the more realistically structured scenes.
Crumble is worth seeing, if only for the social relevance in its politically incorrect view of a man's importance in a woman's life. And Callaghan's tacked-on solution for her three women characters— patch up the floor, repaper the walls, and polish the brass on this Titanic before pawning it off to some sucker and all moving in together— doesn't look promising at all.
Callaghan's play addresses (even if unintentionally) the question, "What would women do without men?" Or in this case, how would a distraught mother (Gigi Naglak) and disturbed daughter Janice (Sara Madden) function when they lose the one man in their lives who mattered?
Their house tells them the answer. Crumbling from disrepair, and dressed like a cross between a hobo and an aristocrat, David Stanger personifies an institution— the nuclear family— now in serious disrepair. "I was a mansion once," he intones. But after surviving intact through plague, war and desolation, he must now implore these two women to "touch me" and "fix me."
No such luck. Instead of renovating either the house or their lives, Mom seeks advice from her divorced, cat-hoarding sister (Amanda Grove), a barren woman who can only dish out the banal advice found in Oprah's Book Club. Janice— though adorable and sympathetic in Madden's characterization— fills her Christmas wish list with bomb construction components, and serves bleach to the "friends" she invites to tea parties. Although Mom might provide financially (by working as a chef), she can't supply the emotional buttressing Janice needs, let alone detect the pre-teen's obvious depression.
Instead of communicating or working through their problems, mother and daughter indulge in fantasies of their respective generation's "perfect man." A consoling Harrison Ford gives backrubs while listening to mom's "hard day at work" stories, and a tween-titillating Justin Timberlake bursts into Janice's bedroom to assuage her sorrows with song. As portrayed by Matthew Hultgren, both of these imaginary companions offer no help or guidance (although Hultgren provides an enjoyable impersonation of the pop star).
Flashpoint's outgoing artistic director, Michael Osinski, finesses the production with dark humor and a clever use of Dan Soule's set. But the choices in Maria Shaplin's lighting undermine the allegory by failing to create sufficiently sharp enough breaks between Stanger's monologues, Hultgren's fantasy appearances and the more realistically structured scenes.
Crumble is worth seeing, if only for the social relevance in its politically incorrect view of a man's importance in a woman's life. And Callaghan's tacked-on solution for her three women characters— patch up the floor, repaper the walls, and polish the brass on this Titanic before pawning it off to some sucker and all moving in together— doesn't look promising at all.
What, When, Where
Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake). Drama by Sheila Callaghan; directed by Michael Osinski. Flashpoint Theatre Company production through May 8, 2010 at the Second Stage of the Adrienne Theatre, 2030 Sansom St. (215) 665-9720 or www.flashpointtheatre.org.
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