STAGE REVIEW
New pidgin play is full of laughs
By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Special to The Advertiser
Lee Tonouchi's new pidgin comedy at Kumu Kahua Theatre has a delightful central character and a warm and gentle premise focusing on the reconciliation of two adult brothers.
But in dramatic terms, "Gone Feeshing" is essentially a single-character monologue in which one brother has all the best speeches and the other simply feeds him straight lines and questions.
'Gone Feeshing'
When the play opens, Wayne and Grayson find themselves awkwardly at the beach, listlessly tending to their fishing lines. Conversation is sporadic and distrustful. Wayne suspects his younger brother wants something from him.
He does. Grayson wants Wayne to be the best man at his wedding.
The wedding announcement triggers the emotional back-story, which explains why the two men have little to say to each other. Although Wayne has some success hosting a show on local television (it's also called "Gone Feeshing"), he has always been the rascal older brother, floundering through school and still living at home with his mother.
Wayne's jealous that their father always liked Grayson best — after all, he got good grades, a college degree, and a job teaching high school. Now that he's poised in the position to provide grandchildren, Wayne is furious at being scooped again.
Enter the character of Da Ocean, played without words by Malia Yamamoto in dance and pantomime, who upends the brothers in a powerful wave that sends them back in time to work out their fraternal differences.
The play then becomes a series of childhood memories, some of them involving brief appearances of Dad, played by Wil Kahele. With each new wash of ocean, the boys gain insight, returning to the present with an improved understanding of each other.
There's a hilarious sequence in which Dad tries to teach Grayson to swim while Wayne circles them both like a playful porpoise. When Dad takes a break, Grayson slips his water wings on his feet to "walk on water like Jesus." Of course, when Wayne does nothing to stop him, the near-drowning is big brother's fault.
The play is a comedy, and the essentially adolescent relationship between Wayne and Grayson offers up lots of funny scenes. Director Harry Wong keeps it moving with lively and inventive staging. The audience quickly accepts the underwater sequence and is delighted with Wayne's use of fake blood and enlarged camera angles to enhance his fishing show.
Moses Goods is excellent as Wayne, alternately surly, charming, cocky, and boasting. Squire Coldwell's Grayson is an effective foil, making his points sideways and with little fanfare. Together, they provide a great deal of fun for audiences and offer a rough and naive repartee.
