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Read the review on the Oregonlive.com website here!  

"Sarah Lucht and Ted Roisum star in John Guare's "House of Blue Leaves" at Profile Theatre. If we didn't want so much from life, we wouldn't be so disappointed when we didn't get it. At least that's what John Guare seems to imply in "The House of Blue Leaves" -- a 1971 farce-tragedy, which was the playwright's first major theatrical success and is now being given a crisp revival by Portland's Profile Theatre.

 

Set in 1965 on the occasion of Pope Paul VI's visiting New York to speak to the United Nations about world peace, the play focuses on Artie Shaughnessy, a Queens, New York, zoo-keeper who dreams about becoming a famous song writer. His aspirations so disproportional to his talents and circumstances that he can't help but be frustrated and horribly humbled by failure. But then most of the other characters including his mentally unstable wife Bananas and his alienated, angry, army-escapee son Ronnie, suffer similarly debasing defeats.

 

There is something unpleasant about the self-obsessed desire to fulfill one's dreams at whatever cost, but the inevitable failure is also touching, and as represented by Guare often extremely funny. Structurally tighter and more disciplined than other Guare plays including those offered in this year's Profile Theatre's season, "Blue Leaves" still abounds in the free-wheeling absurdist humor that is so much a part of his dramatic style.

 

The Profile Theatre production of "The House of Blue Leaves" nicely captures the play's tricky balance of humor, cruelty, and pathos. Director Don Alder's strong cast of actors ably negotiate the play's fast-paced farcical action sequences but also give surprising reality to Guare's idiosyncratic characters.

 

Ted Roisum skillfully sketches Artie's intensely ambivalent feelings toward his wife -- his hesitation about making the final break that hoped for success requires. Roisum is especially strong in his portrayal of Artie's not-so-quiet desperation at play's end.

 

As the emotionally troubled Bananas, Sarah Lucht is outstanding. Writhing uncontrollably on the floor in a fit of anxiety or scampering on all fours like a loyal pet dog, she ably presents the wild antics of an emotionally deranged character, but she also adeptly tosses off Bananas' wryly humorous observations. Most importantly, Lucht conveys the deep-rooted sadness that underlies everything she says and does. As broad as her actions may be, Lucht never loses the character's human center.

 

In a similar vein, Mario Calcagno does well with Ronnie -- giving us a strangely disturbed and even maniacal character, one who is threatening but also bizarrely comic. As Bananas' competition for Artie's affection, Trisha Todd's Bunny strikes another note. She is loud, crass, and full of energy. Todd may occasionally sacrifice nuance, but her hilarious performance propels the play's action forward.

 

The laughs are many here, but ultimately we can't help but be a little taken off guard when farce gives way to tragedy -- and this is exactly what Guare would seem to want.

 

by Richard Wattenberg/Special to The Oregonian