‘Guano’ delights
By John Berger
with hilarious
improvisations
Special to the Star-BulletinGuano dell'Amore: A Modern Commedia: At 8 p.m. daily through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Ernst Lab Theatre. Tickets $3-$8; call 956-7655.
PLAYWRIGHT Tony Pisculli dedicates "Guano dell' Amore" to "anyone who has ever been dumped on by love" (The title can be politely translated as "Bird Excrement of Love" ). He conceived it after a summer spent studying the traditions of commedia dell'arte in Italy. He's directing it in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree in directing. He should be well on the way to an A+ for his production.
Pisculli's "Guano" consists of segments in which the plot has been established but the actors can improvise dialogue and action along the way. The execution of Pisculli's scenario by his talented cast makes "Guano" one of the best Lab Theatre productions of the past year or two.
In short, Pisculli fulfills his responsibilities as both playwright and director.
The mechanics are simple. Slapstick, sight gags, melodrama, physical comedy, double entendres, one-liners, non sequiturs and toilet humor all get laughs. The characters are stock types in the commedia dell'arte tradition.
Miserly rich old Pantalone (Ari Green) wants his daughter, Isabella (Nicole Tessier) to marry bombastic Capitano (Joe Abraham). What Pantalone doesn't know is that his own new bride, Rosaura (Stephanie Sanchez) is Capitano's mistress. An assortment of comic misunderstandings keep things moving smoothly as Rosaura's loyal servant (also played by Abraham) helps conceal her involvement with Capitano, and Isabella yearns for her one true love, handsome Flavio (also played by Green). Sanchez and Tessier have additional roles as well. Rapid changes of costume and characterization make it happen.
All four actors also perform as well-intentioned comic servants with the collective intelligence of lettuce. Individual zanni (male comic servants) and zagna (female comic servants) pop up throughout. All four also appear in separate slapstick segments; Act II opened last night with a parody of "Stomp." Those segments slow the telling of the story but add another dimension to the performance.
Sean T.C. O'Malley of Loose Screws presides as the show's singing narrator. O'Malley's problems with an inattentive spotlight operator add a contemporary twist to the proceedings.
"Guano" is good as is, but it could get into the story a little faster than it did last night. Watching the cast assemble its elevated performance area has a historic relevance, but "Guano" took longer than it should have to get things started once the stage is complete.
BullDog's lighting design converts urban Italy into a forest for several important comic encounters. Sadie Yi and Sandra Finney share credit for the simple costumes that compliment Antonio Fava's authentic Italian leather masks. Pisculli's program notes add more comic bits to the experience.
"Guano" deserves capacity crowds for the rest of the run.
