Theatre: Twentieth Century at Theatreworks

In many ways, I'm a bad theatregoer. As a performer myself (currently not performing if anyone wants to change that), I have a sometimes extreme eye when it comes to theatre, and hand in hand with that thought, I know that most theatre isn't made for actors. In fact, nearly all isn't made for actors, and I'm fine with that; there's a certain amount of appeasement that goes with the field - it's just part of the game.

That being said, the critical eye goes in my favor when... oh, say, critiquing a show. But yet, I strive to come in objectively, not see myself in any of the roles (easier said than done, but so far, amazingly successful), and try to look at the show as an average audience member. This attitude was fully in place when going to the opening night of TheatreWorks' new show, Twentieth Century. Theatreworks! The "Nationally-Acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley!" Should be amazing; this is one of the truly awesome professional theatres in the Bay Area! And the play is interesting too - based on a movie of the same name, Twentieth Century is set on a train and its artistic inhabitants longing to find in some cases, success, and in others, love. Wow, and it's got a Looney Tune's screwball comedy farce quality, count me in for this night to remember!

...

Yes, one might think that. One might also want to sit around, watching snails drive their little trails along one's glass window; a fun image, but boring, unimaginative, and mirthless in practice. Not to be an affront to snails, but Twentieth Century, with all its out of town actors and Silicon Valley backing, was one of the worst pieces of theatre this year. But hey, it's still early.

Too harsh? Possibly. Perhaps the better saying is that the direction was simply uninspired. The casting was mismatched, and at times downright wrong. The sets were... well they were quite nice, actually. Costumes too. What director Robert Kelly unsuccessfully attempted in this piece was half way between farce and reality, and with one foot on either side of the fence, the comedy (and humanity) never once came to the front.

It wasn't entirely the direction, however. The leads, Dan Hiatt and Rebecca Dines, playing producer Oscar Jaffe and actress Lily Garland had the romantic chemistry of lobsters, and combined with frenetic acting choices, came across as sloppy throughout the whole show. This piece has some honest moments, too! These two artists were once in love, but sometimes even a great script can't save an awful performance.

The rest of the cast isn't immune to hammy acting, over the top line readings, and framing sentences' cadence to sound like jokes, even if they aren't funny. Some of the performances were full fleshed characters: the zealot Matthew Clark is played charmingly by Gerry Hiken, and the Conductor (Edward Sarafian) brings a bit of polished comedy, but those scenes are few and far between. The rest of the cast is as forgettable as their entrances.

Save your money and the drive, queue up Netflix for the film, and watch Twentieth Century at home; TheatreWorks doesn't deliver.