Stage Review
'Ola Ka Lau' play doesn't go for subtlety

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Theater Critic

•	'Ola Ka Lau' Kumu Kahua Theatre 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Dec. 9 Tickets: $5 to $16 Information: 536-4441

Its protagonist is Janelle, a young woman who has given up on the old ways she and her cousin Keola once learned from their grandmother. While she remains close to Keola, she is distracted by an abusive marriage and her absorption into Western behaviors.

Keola has maintained his studies with his tutu, but suffers from an illness that no one seems able to cure.

The question in the play is whether Janelle, with Keola's help, can regain her footing on the traditional path.

"Ola Ka Lau" is the work of local playwright Kimo Armitage, and is directed for Kumu Kahua by Tammy Haili'opua Baker. It plays like a raw, first work, with significant problems in developing plot and character.

Both the script and its direction suffer from excessive redundancy. In this play, if a point can be made once, nothing can stop it from being repeated another half dozen times — usually with a degree of weeping or shouting.

Janelle's husband is a bum, a bully and a coward. He drinks, beats her, then pleads for forgiveness. Tutu is scolding, demanding, and impatient, yet continues to wonder why she gets no respect. Keola is a self-effacing, nice guy and spends a great deal of time watching the erosion of things he values.

Excessive repetition of unsuccessful behavior patterns may be true to life, but to make good theater, they need to be sharpened up and presented in new and different ways.

There's also a great deal of domestic ceremony in the play. Characters come and go with a great display of stating the obvious. Again, it may be true to life, but it fails to capture the dramatic tempo necessary to succeed on the stage.

Also troubling are character inconsistencies that jerk the action along unjustifiably and undermine credibility. Keola professes strong beliefs in the power of natural healing, yet pulls an unexplainable double reverse by opting for Western medicine, then taking matters into his own hands.

Director Baker seems unable to soften the sharp edges in the script, and the cast members move through their parts as if they were wearing labels. U'ilani Kapuaakuni is confused as Janelle, Daryl Bonilla is a peacemaker as Keola, Troy Ignacio is brutish as Janelle's husband, and Venus Kapuaala is irritable as Tutu.

As a result, the evening seems to last much longer than its clock time, and we become restless and uneasy while waiting for the story to play itself out.

The most interesting note comes from the set design by Daniel Gelbmann, who has found a way to represent stylized fronds across the stage floor and backgrounds.