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‘Lying in State’ at Georgia Ensemble
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C-
When Dorothy Parker was told that President Calvin Coolidge had ascended to that big Oval Office in the sky, the legendary wit responded with her usual flair: “How can they tell?”
The idea that many a public servant has an indiscernible pulse beat is the premise of David C. Hyer’s “Lying in State,” the relentlessly vapid political satire that opens the 16th season of Georgia Ensemble Theatre in Roswell.
Election-weary Americans may be in the mood for a zany send-up of the lies and cover-ups that mask the hypocrisy of the political system. But “Lying in State” — which describes a bungled attempt to bury the truth about a state senator’s not-so-heroic death — may not be what they had in mind.
Blame it on the “purple squirrel,” the potent cocktail that causes so much of the mayhem and madness behind this funeral-parlor romp. But don’t blame it on the actors, who work hard to overcome the shortcomings of the dreadful writing. With dead politico Ed safely tucked away in his coffin — or is he? —the looming question is who will fill the Senate vacancy.
Campaign manager Herb (William S. Murphey) wants Ed’s ex-wife Edna (Tess Malis Kincaid) to step up to the plate. The governor (James Baskin) wants his own nerdy son Wally (Edwin Link) to take over. But as it turns out, Ed seems to have willed his legacy to his exotic-dancer girlfriend, Buttons (Cara Mantella), who thinks the “Senate seat” is a piece of furniture. Things get even more scrambled with the arrival of a pill-popping widow from an adjacent viewing room (Kathleen Wattis) and Ed’s staggeringly drunk brother (Michael Strauss).
As directed by Peter Hardy, the ensemble plays the nonsense to the hilt. Looking like a cross between Gypsy Rose Lee and Audrey Hepburn, Mantella’s Buttons is an irresistibly comic bombshell. She virtually walks away with the show.
Wattis — making one of her signature turns as a heavily sedated, acid-tongued harbinger of truth — is spot on. And Kincaid’s Edna — who has remade herself from an overweight stutterer into a figure of elegance — is refreshingly underplayed.
Too bad that “Lying in State” runs so wretchedly out of control. As Hyer attempts to dress up his wafer-thin political observations with increasing layers of silliness, the play becomes absurdly convoluted and pointless. Like a crowded ballot, the Atlanta theater season has plenty of choices. “Lying in State” looks like its first big loser.
The 411: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Also, 4 p.m. Sept. 13. Through Sept. 21. $23-$33. Georgia Ensemble Theatre, Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. 770-641-1260, get.org.
Bottom line: This lame-o political farce won’t get our vote.
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By shirley alford
September 11, 2008 1:23 PM | Link to this
I would be delighted to see Lying in State if it were playing within driving distance of my home. It offers laughter in the absurd as today’s highly charged polticial season plays out. Lighten up is the message.