That’s a no-brainer if you love theatre. But if you aren’t sure, you will be after experiencing What Love Is and The Uncertainty Files— two one-acts by Scottish playwright Linda McLean and directed by Dave Barton, on stage together at The Garage Theatre through June 11.
What Love Is, the first piece performed, is a dance of hearts, minds and bodies of an older couple, Jean (Karen Kahler) and Gene (Bryan Jennings), clinging together in love against the ravages of time.
Their grown-up daughter Jeanette (Victoria Marcello), poised to leave and explore her own life but still tethered to them as self-appointed caretaker, creates uncertainty for all of them.
Within this dynamic, the couple struggle to preserve each other’s disintegrating selves, disconcerted by changes in memory and body and haunted by loss.
Beckett-like in its exploration of how we grasp at identity and meaning, yet infused with warmth, shortbread and heart-shaped Yorkshire puddings, the play offers a rich glimpse into what it is to share love despite it all.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Screen-Shot-2016-06-02-at-3.59.00-PM.png” credit=”Photo by Cat Elrod” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Jeffrey Kieviet and cast in The Garage Theatre production of The Uncertainty Files” captionposition=”right”] In harmonic counterpoint, The Uncertainty Files couldn’t be more different while deftly evoking the same themes of uncertainty, family, love, loss and the loose boundaries of self. In this less traditionally structured play, seven actors (Peter Balgoyen, Whitney Ellis, Julie Marie Hassett, Craig Johnson, Jeffrey Kieviet, Maribella Magaña and Paulette Smith) each take center stage in turn to play two different personas (both male and female), identified only by their initials and ages. They voice the exact words (“um” s, “uh” s and all) of a group of diverse people McLean had recorded talking about uncertainty and then remixed.
While each character speaks, the other actors dynamically interact with the speaker and each other, metaphorically enacting the speaker’s psyche, such as walking blindfolded or striking the poses of one character’s self-defining tarot cards (until that self dissolves and they gleefully choose their own cards).
The effect is extremely engaging, delightfully mesmerizing (aided by the bright colors of the players’ costumes) and surprisingly poignant. We recognize our own fears and desires in each of them.
Acting in both plays is solid, with Karen Kahler as Jean grounding What Love Is with her performance as a fragile woman prone to strokes, and all seven actors in The Uncertainty Files working effectively together as an enthusiastic ensemble.
The Garage Theatre’s cozy space allows for audience intimacy with both plays. Minimal but provocative staging (a skewed window-frame echoing Jean and Gene’s scary reality; a similarly-skewed large refrigerator occasionally demanding attention from the seven actors) doesn’t detract from the acting.
Costuming is also appropriate— muted, worn, but textured garb in What Love Is reflects the elemental nature of the characters’ dialogue, contrasting the exuberant rainbow outfits in the second production.
While the two plays are decidedly different, they work weirdly well together.
If What Love Is should be seen to connect us to our human heart, then The Uncertainty Files must be seen to cathartically engage us with what we talk about when we talk about life.
What Love Is and The Uncertainty Files are performed Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm until June 11 at The Garage Theatre, 251 E. 7th Street. Tickets are $15-$20. For tickets and more information, call the box office at (562) 433-8337 or visit thegaragetheatre.org .
