Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, written in 1983, is as poised to stun now as it was then – perhaps even more so now, because during this technological age when people relate more zealously to objects than to people, the chasm between and among people is far greater.
It is this chasm that Pulitzer-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley delves into in his succinct, three-scene one-act. Broken people who cannot connect or even fathom the disparate parts of themselves adhere to each other in order to survive.
Through contriving an intimate relationship – because what is intimacy at its core if not merely a split-second choice –they together and individually become whole. They become each other’s flotation device.
In the Crown Center Theatre’s current production of this classic piece, famed television and movie director John McNaughton, focuses his directorial lens on performances that are raw and on emotion that is tangible. Lines that have been experienced many times before hit with mad force as though for the first time. Long after the curtain, impetuous calls like “Let’s love each other” reverberate. They roll in and out and in again like waves that have the power to either submerge or convey.
For her part, actress Juliet Landau, daughter of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, brilliantly dances the thin line between codependent eggshell walker and fierce woman with absolutely nothing left to lose, while Matthew J. Williamson bears perfect resemblance to an impervious thug right on the verge of heart puncture. The heart attack his character fears becomes a heart crack-open he enjoys – or rather that he lets carry him to shore because he has exhausted all other options.
Technically Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is more drama than comedy, but because there are plenty of laughs to be had and because running underneath nearly every stand-up comedian is a riptide of angst akin to that which torment’s this play’s characters, those who enjoy comedy will revel in this production.
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea shows at the Crown City Theatre 11031 Camarillo St. in North Hollywood through December 18, 2011.
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