"Perversity" Is a Hit! The Ron Levitt Review

YOUNG ACTORS HIT THE MARK IN MAMET PLAY

NOW BEING PRODUCED BY THE ALLIANCE THEATRE LAB

By Ron Levitt

Florida Media News / ENV magazine

MIAMI LAKES, FL – it is always revealing to watch a small, local theatre company produce a well-known play without benefit of big-money-sets and extravagant lighting and sound. One never knows exactly what to expect. Despite such budget shortfalls in the technical department, lighting expertise by Skye Whitcomb and recorded music – along with four magnetic actors – allow The Alliance Theatre Lab to take over the Main Street Playhouse’s tiny venue in Miami Lakes with topnotch quality in a David Mamet revival of the 1970s hit – Sexual Perversity in Chicago. It was this language-peppered play which put Mamet on the artistic map.

This play hits its mark thanks to some astute direction by Albert Acevedo but also by a cast of twenty-something actors who explore relationships ferociously among the working class in the Windy City circa 1970 and do it with such realism that one may forget he or she is watching outrage on a tiny stage set up to reach 50 seats in the audience. If ever actors deserve applause, it is this foursome “making mad” in Miami Lakes.

David Sirois, Travis Reiff, Bertha Leal and Jehane Serralles are the quartet who find their relationships falling apart because of the caustic nature of their vocabulary – enough profane words to set records for insulting and arguing in any year. Sirois and Reiff in particular, shine for two different reasons: Sirois for underplaying his low-key character and Reiff for his volatile performance of the womanizing best-friend. Mamet has always been strong in his male character depiction and dialogue and these two actors – thanks to Director Acevedo – fill Mamet’s character progression.

One might think a 1970s play would not be relevant to the new Century. But, despite its reflection on a time past, it could be any moment, anywhere as relationships sour. This production is not played as a period piece, It is not dated, even with outdated references to the Equal Rights Amendment and other cultural highlights.

Mamet’s play originally was all about language and how it can be used. Is this truly “gutter talk” or is just “stylized filth” – the way this generation talked! Like others before, you can decide!

The plot is primarily about the relationship of Danny (Sirois) and Deborah (Leal), who go from sexually attracted individuals to uncomfortable people living together. Their pals (Reiff) and (Serralles) add to the confusion as they talk about what they consider usual man-woman subjects. In a nutshell, their friends help to poison the relationship. This play is perfect for ensemble-size theatre groups with paltry budgets. It is also a class-A production to showcase individual actors.

As for the Mamet of 1972, he forces his audience to examine society’s attitudes toward love and romance, those rebellious years when the idea of a stable, committed relationship had become a modern-day perversity. His ability with dialogue is well-tested in film and on stage. His works range from Glengarry Glenn Ross, Wag the Dog to his recent mainstream success, Speed-the-Plow. Returning to see his earliest success gives theatre-lovers a chance to compare Mamet’s story-telling evolution.

The show runs through Nov. 22. Call 305.259.0418