The concept of art within art—like a painting of a painting—can often be difficult to grasp. It is not always easy to determine where the the art ends and the frame begins. In The Real Thing, Tom Stoppard’s 1982 play currently running in the Devine Studio Theatre at the Davis Performance Arts Center, director Andrew Dolan (COL ‘10) does an excellent job of managing the concept of a play about a play. The main characters of the show are directors and actors who are struggling with their own theater projects in their “real” lives.
As the show begins, the curtain partially opens to reveal a man sitting at his desk in a bathrobe, drinking wine and building a house of cards. After a short dialogue in which the character, Max, reveals that he knows that his wife, Charlotte, has been cheating on him—infidelity is a common theme in this soap-opera-esque play—the audience sees that they were actually watching a production of House of Cards, the play written by Henry (Daniel Lerman, GRD ‘10), a kooky playwright and the central character in the show.
Henry is dramatic yet cool, detached yet affected. He is the kind of sarcastically endearing character that carries a play. Lerman embodies the kooky New York playwright with obnoxious wit and fast-talking gusto. Henry is entwined in an affair with Annie, an actress who shares his theatrical aspirations played by Stella Clingmon (COL ’10).
Wait, are they kissing in the play within the play? Or pretending to kiss in the play within the play?
While Lerman’s performance stands out, Clingmon also did an excellent job as Annie, the hot-blooded and discontented young actress searching for the kind of love you read about in harlequin novels. Annie is never fully satisfied with her current lover and gets involved with three different men during the course of the play. Clingmon’s passion and fervor as Annie makes the infidelitious “pure love” seeker surprisingly believable.
It’s too bad there wasn’t more of Danny Rivera (COL ’11)’s Billy, a young, flirtatious and hilarious actor. Billy is at his best when he acts out the ill-fated script (yes, another play within the play) of Annie’s political prisoner friend. Rivera brings a breath of non-theatrical humor into the play, which is refreshing, as the plot often gets caught up in the intricacies of the characters’ theater-centric lives.
Technically, the play is well executed. The plain set is accented with subtle details like framed photos of the actual actors adorning the set. In one cleverly constructed scene, Billy and Annie film one of their plays. Though they are facing away from the audience, their faces are projected (via the camera’s perspective) on the set’s wall. Not only does this engage the audience, but it also visually underscores their on-stage romance.
Performing metafiction is always a risky endeavor. Straying too far into the world within the world risks alienating the audience, but leaving the internal elements undeveloped feels hackneyed and cheap. The Real Thing presents a particularly interesting challenge, as the internal theatrical elements feature so prominently in the plot. Fortunately, Dolan, the cast and the crew rise to the occasion. In short, though it may leave you’re head spinning as you leave the theatre, The Real Thing is worth checking out.
The Real Thing will be playing in the Devine Studio Theater at the Davis Center from January 21st to January 30th.
