Love, Sex
and the IRS
Written
by Billy Van Zandt & Jane Milmore
Directed
by Alan Weller
Review by Keith Waits
Copyright 2013 by Keith Waits, all rights reserved.
One
of the most common questions that come to mind when I review community theatre
is how often such groups choose to produce material of such varying quality.
While I was watching Love, Sex and the IRS, a play I had no previous experience
with before entering Clarksville Little Theatre, it seemed clear that the
script must have dated from the late 1950s or early 1960s at the latest. The
sexual politics alone seem tied to a pre-sexual revolution mindset in which New
York City landlords would be scandalized to find a woman in an apartment
occupied by two bachelors. When one of the bachelors has to don drag in order
to support attempted tax fraud when an IRS auditor pays a visit, the general
tone that is taken, and some slightly homophobic subtext that is introduced,
reinforces the feeling.
Shocking
then to discover that the play was written and first produced in 1979 and is
set in 1978. Perhaps the authors meant to engender nostalgia for strained mid-century
farce, or perhaps that is too generous a thought for this badly written and
self-defeating script. Sloppiness can be found: witness the opening scenes in
which the landlord observes a hole in the ceiling that opens into the apartment
above only to, in a later scene, observe that the men’s apartment is the only
one above the lower floors. Or the fact that the tax fraud scheme at the center
of the scenario cannot stand up to a minute’s scrutiny and absurdly positions
the two main characters as hopelessly stupid and unsympathetic. Such inconsistencies might be only
mildly troubling if the overall impact was raucous entertainment. But for this
viewer it all came off as labored and only mildly amusing.
Inconsistency
dominates the production choices as well.
Most of the costumes and setting seem contemporary, yet the character of
the IRS auditor, Floyd Spinner, seems pulled from a 1950s sitcom: a
milquetoast fussbudget in a dull suit and tie, leather briefcase in hand, who
is soon drunk in the afternoon and chasing after the young female lead. As played
by Wayne C. Muscar, it is the one performance of the evening that is carried
off with a sure and specific point-of-view, even if it seems at odds with the
rest of the production.
Which
is not suggest that the other cast members have not invested considerable
effort in their work, but the results are an unfortunate mixed bag of
well-meaning earnest effort and good energy adrift amid the ultimately untenable
script. Brandon Saylor tries his best as the lead, Leslie Arthur, but the
action requires him to carry off much of the play in abominable drag. Grace
Poganski’s sure comic timing is challenged by the clichéd conception of the mother
of Leslie’s roommate, Jon; and another veteran with good comic instincts,
Michael Gaither, manages some good effect with the landlord, Mr. Jansen. But
the remaining cast members are never able to rise above the material.
Yet
there were many audience members who seemed to quite audibly enjoy themselves,
once again emphasizing that a review is simply one opinion. One patron was so
taken with laughing that she could not seem to stop during the intermission. But
for me, a man in drag is not funny for simply putting an actor in a dress, but
rather, in this instance, an opportunity squandered in coarse slapstick. I have
no objection to drag, or farce; but good theatre requires a sure foundation at
any time, and no less so when trafficking in deliberate absurdity. I found such
foundation missing in the text, and perhaps only a production bold enough to
turn the script inside out instead of taking such an earnest approach would
have stood a chance. Clarksville
Little Theatre has staged many successful productions of worthwhile plays in
recent years (Assassins, The Shadow Box,
Jesus Christ Superstar), but with this ill-conceived choice they have come
a cropper.
Love, Sex,
and the IRS
March 15-24, 2013
Clarksville Little Theatre
301
E. Montgomery Avenue
Clarksville,
IN 47129
812-283-6512
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