GEORGE F. LEE / STAR-BULLETIN
Dorothy Stamp, left, and Anne Marie MacLachlan
pull off strong performances in "Talking With...,"
including this segment called "Fifteen Minutes."

Talking about
grim realities

Odd characters make
for compelling theater

By John Berger
Star-Bulletin

The Actors Group's current production of "Talking With ..." isn't quite as grim as last season's excellent "Buried Child," but the little Kakaako-based theater company is again presenting stark, challenging theater.

Although "Monologues" would seem a more accurate title for a play in which only one person speaks in each scene, TAG director David Schaeffer and a strong cast make the most out of Jane Martin's deceptively titled anthology. Acting is what TAG is all about, and "Talking With ..." gives six talented women two segments each to show what they can do. The characters they play are generally odd but always memorable. Most appear to be mentally ill.

Several monologues are delivered directly to the audience. This isn't "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," but there were times during the performance on Easter Sunday that it was hard not to respond to the actors.

Versatile Annie MacLachlan returns to the local stage after a long absence and gives two impressive performances. In "Handler" she is a slightly cynical and world-weary Southern woman who handles poisonous snakes during church services in accordance with biblical Mark 16:18 ("They will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick; and they will recover.")

GEORGE F. LEE / STAR-BULLETIN
Blossom Lam portrays a woman who wants to
move into McDonald's in a "Talking With ..."
segment entitled "French Fries."

It seems at first that the woman is discussing the techniques of working with different species of snakes. A spiritual revelation gradually takes place.

In "Scraps," MacLachlan portrays a mentally ill housewife who dreams of finding sanctuary in Oz with some of L. Frank Baum's more obscure characters.

"I like that better than life," the woman says of Oz while doing housework in one of her Oz costumes. MacLachlan creates a touching portrait of a woman doing her best to cope with reality and aware that she is losing the battle.

TAG veteran Dorothy Stamp delivers a chilling performance as a seemingly clueless actress who suddenly takes over a casting call with terrifying determination in "Audition." Will the actress debase herself by stripping naked, kill the cat she brought with her, or return at a later date and kill herself? Stamp develops the character with frightening realism.

Sammie Choy is impressive in her TAG debut as an urban vigilante who forces a mugger to strip and then mutilate himself with a straight razor in "Cul de Sac." Mutilation also figures in "Marks" as Betty Burdick plays a woman who feels her life changed for the better after a rejected suitor cut her face in a parking lot.

Lamplight becomes a substitute for human companionship and a symbol for life in "Lamps." Blossom Lam plays a lonely woman who explains to a mute guest why she has filled her home with lamps. This is one of the more philosophical character studies. It is also one of the few in which the character becomes more likable and sympathetic as the piece develops.

Other characters include a mentally ill derelict who wishes she could move into the neighborhood McDonald's ("French Fries"), an antsy actress who wants to know as much about the audience as they know about her ("15 Minutes"), a woman in labor ("Dragons") and a woman in therapy who tells the group how her mother prepared for death ("Clear Glass Marbles").

"Talking with..." On stage: 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday; and 4 p.m. through April 29 Place: At Yellow Brick Studio, 625 Keawe St. Call: 591-7999 Cost: $10

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