Die Laughing at Morris Panych’ “Vigil at the Mark Taper Forum
AT THE THEATRE WITH AUDREY LINDEN
Morris Panych’s “Vigil” will have you doubled over with laughter. I felt like I died and went to heaven and was still chuckling the day after. How I could laugh so much at something so irreverent astounded me. His delightful two character play deals with the nebbish nephew, Kemp who arrives in New York in September to bury his Aunt Grace and is still in her rat trap loft a year later as he impatiently waits for her to die. Where is the humor in this, you ask. I can’t explain it myself, but Panych’s brilliant writing made waiting for death hysterically funny. Kemp virtually delivers astounding and shockingly funny monologues to his Aunt Grace.
Panych is not only the writer, he is the director and his inventive direction does not miss a beat. The play opens with original music by Meg Roe and Allesandro Juliani which punctuates the short scenes. These vignettes accentuate the marvelous punch lines. The lighting design by Alan Brodie and Robert Hahn and sound design by Cricket S. Myers blend to create the passage of time so well as we hear the ticking of the clock interspersed with the music. Every element of this production was perfection. Nothing took away from the actors.
The whimsical set has a Mad Hatter feel to it with its tilted askew doors and brown papered old windows. It is a well lived in hodge- podge of clutter with Grace’s old bed as the center focus. Chairs hang from the ceiling and the strewn about old luggage let us know Grace has lived and travelled well. There is a sense of creativity to the clutter of a lifetime, and the room takes on a personality of its own.
And what actors Panych has in “Vigil” with Marco Barricelli and Olympia Dukakis! Barricelli is rumpled like a well- worn suit, and he is so comfortable in the character of Kemp. Kemp is nuts. The son of a failed magician who was a manic depressive explains some of Kemp’s deviant behavior. The fact his mother didn’t want a boy and dressed him in velvet suits helped shape his unusual mind set. He has a unique way of seeing the world. And that is putting it mildly. Panych created an absolutely certifiable character. Certifiable, but hysterically funny. Panych gives us lines that are unforgettable. “Why are you putting on make-up? Why don’t you let the mortician do that?” And the mind that created the weird character of Kemp is beyond quirky. Panych has to have the fertile, creative mind akin to genius to have written this gem that dips into madness and makes it seem funny and, yet touching.
Barricelli does a magnificent job with all the dialogue and he makes all those lines seem natural and effortless. Dukakis lends her reactions to Kemp’s ramblings. She gives just the right amount of subtlety and engages by a look or a gesture. It becomes a cat and mouse game. And we are kept guessing as to what ultimately will happen.
I am not going to give anything about the plot away. It is a gift to be able to follow the story and to be shocked and wonderfully surprised. Ultimately, life brought these two characters together. Kemp arrives and to his dismay, Aunt Grace is not dying, or at least fast enough to suit him. “I’m concerned about your health these past few days; it seems to be improving.” They become unlikely roommates. Only, it turns out not so unlikely. Maybe they have more in common than meets the eye. Kemp can’t help but berate Auntie Grace for not rescuing him from is horrid childhood. She swept in and alighted from a taxi with her wild dark hair, he recollects and all he wanted to do was brush that wild hair and have her take him in that taxi with her when she swept out of his life. Underneath the laughter and sarcasm is the hurt of people not caring for Kemp.
We get insights into what shaped his strange and twisted view of life and of people. He wrote letters to Auntie Grace and sent pictures but where are they? Payback. Kemp has not seen his Aunt in thirty years. Their interaction is like an exquisite game of chess with Kemp pounding on the board as he tries to hasten Grace’s demise.
These two do a slow dance together as Kemp fills Aunt Grace and the audience in as to what went on in his life. All Grace has to do is listen. Dukakis absorbs Kemp’s lines like a sponge. Absurdly strange things happen. And there is a surprising twist in Act 2 that is so very satisfying. Panych’s story is so well crafted
As Grace perseveres and lives on another day, another month, another year, a relationship develops and perhaps a caring that touches the heart. As she knits a sweater, each stitch binds the two of them closer in a strange way. The more time one spends with something, with someone, an understanding can take place. Knit one, pearl two together. And, a relationship is knit that eases the hurt and the loneliness and binds two “strange bed fellows together.” You will not want to miss this play!
“Vigil” at the Mark Taper Forum at 135 N. Grand Ave Los Angeles 90012 Los Angeles runs through December 18th.For tickets and show times, call 213-628-2772.
Audrey Linden is a writer, actress and singer. She can be seen in a long-running “Associated Tax Resolution” commercial, two “Little Caesars” spots, a “Teva International Pharmaceutical” short, Gene Simmons’ “Family Jewels,” “America’s Court with Judge Ross,” VHS “Tough Love 2,”etc. Audrey teaches On Camera workshops through the City of Beverly Hills, Community Services. To register, call 310-285-6850-course# 17755. Her classes are held at 241 Moreno Dr. B.H. 90212. The next class starts October 21st -For more information, contact Audrey at audrey133@juno.com
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