Toilet • Richard
Holden sits on the main prop, the toilet,
during his performance of “Confession.” In
the background is Shaunte Caraballo.
Keith Ian Polakoff
Liquor, who can resist?
By Allison Baldwin
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
While watching Love Buk-owski at the Edison Theatre, do not be surprised if it
seems like a bar has sprung up overnight.
The play, comprised of a series of
monologues and soliloquies, is based on the poetry of Charles Bukowski, and presented
by the California Reparatory Company, under the direction of Joanne Gordon, Some
of Bukowski’s most memorable narratives come to life on stage.
Many of the characters give their most astute observations on life while under
the influence of alcohol, and the dozens of beer bottles and mugs bordering the
stage provide many an opportunity for perceived inebriation.
Combined with the atmospheric bottles, the smell and haze of cigarette smoke
place the audience
right in the middle of a grungy bar rest-room.
Why a bathroom? That would be the result of installing a working toilet in the
center of the stage. Although there is no continuous plot throughout the play,
everything always seems to come back to the prominent porcelain stage dressing.
Possibly the biggest treat of the play is the toilet’s role in the final
scene.
The actors, plucked from the Master’s of the Fine Arts Program at Cal State
Long Beach, gave an accurate interpretation of the variety of people one might
meet on the street.
A few actors are understated and blended into the background,
some are what most people consider average (not too loud or quiet, dramatic or
dull), and others have such a strong presence that it is hard to describe them
as anything short of obnoxiously obvious.
The overall effect of the play was uneven. The juxtaposition of traumatic events
and tender musings is really quite nice, and there are a great variety of emotions
each actor tackles.
However, the lack of a continuing plot made some spans of the play utterly forgettable.
While there were some highly amusing segments—“Table for Two,” and “Men
in Urinals” to mention a few—there were times when I desperately
wanted to check my watch to see what time it was.
Love Bukowski will definitely find its niche in the dramatic world, if only for
the numerous ways in which it differs from stereotypical theater.
The actors’ many
trips into the audience and the projection of comments on the walls increase
the viewers’ involvement in the action.
This play is well suited to those who appreciate the art that is profanity and
the appearance of nudity.
They will not be disappointed. People who are squeamish
about subjects like sex, drugs, and abuse should consider seeing something else.
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