Posted on: Thursday, May 19, 2005
STAGE REVIEW
Cultures clash, but with a new twist
By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Special to The Advertiser
Don't see it, don't hear it, don't speak it — and it doesn't exist.
• 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through June 12 • Kumu Kahua Theatre • $5-$16 • 536-4441 That's the unflinching theme in "The Ventriloquist" by Mark Tjarks, now at Kumu Kahua Theatre. It's a difficult title for a difficult work, since it clearly expresses the sense that someone can unthinkingly mouth the words of another, but is otherwise not linked to the story.
The central figure appears to be Sandy (Laura Bach Buzzell), a Mainland haole whose marriage to John (Harrison Kawate), a local Japanese, is in the last stages of unraveling. Sandy believes her mother-in-law (Jody Yamada) to be the principal cause, citing her intrusive presence and condescending ways. Her greatest fear is that their daughter Chelsea (Mimi Sadoshima) will grow up to be just like her grandmother.
Sandy drags John to Roz (Lillian Jones), a marriage counselor who encourages them to speak directly to each other and to understand their partner's point of view.
But just when we have the story pegged as another version of an interracial culture clash, Tjarks takes it to a new level. Grandma is not necessarily the demon Sandy perceives her to be, and may actually be acting to protect her interests. Sandy herself is unconsciously controlling, down to the detail of choosing menu items for Chelsea when they visit a local eatery (dinner salad over oxtail soup).
Chelsea is ambivalent about dating Ty (Gerard Elmore), a fellow student and a white boy who talks and acts as if he was a ghetto kid. John has seemingly abandoned all self-choice, adopting an exasperated "whateva" as his permanent mantra.
Directed by Jason Kanda, the cast up to this point does competent work in developing their characters within the boundaries the playwright has given them. But it's the character of Roz that opens up the play and struggles with the family group for the central focus.
Roz also is racially mixed, the daughter of a black father and an Italian mother. She thought of herself as a dark-skinned Italian princess until she was 11, when she discovered that her Italian grandmother (also played by Yamada, suggesting that grandparents may share universal behaviors) had been telling the neighbors that she was a ghetto child visiting for free piano lessons. From then on, Roz chose to be black.
Jones plays this part as if it were written for her — offhandedly direct, self-deprecating and instinctively funny.
The action in the play is internal and, while not much happens externally, each of the characters makes his or her own journey toward discovery. Insofar as it may cause similar insight for its audience, the play can be revealing and powerful. But those who are confirmed in practicing the behavior "The Ventriloquist" attempts to expose will no doubt politely tell each other that they find it too hard to understand.
Most importantly, don't tell the truth, especially to those closest to you. Instead, repeat the words of others: platitudes that have been passed down through generations by repetition and admonition.
'THE VENTRILOQUIST'
