The Trojan Pie
By Jeff Favre
Thursday, March 15 2007
Thursday, March 15 2007
Published on AllBusiness.com
Creating a good play is like making a good pie. It requires carefully measured, high-quality ingredients, baked for the correct time. William Moreing's new lighthearted comedy, which he also directs, doesn't taste quite right. It includes a fun concept that results in a pleasant payoff, but that concept is buried beneath extensive amounts of unnecessary dialogue. Two fine performances are overwhelmed by several shaky ones. And Moreing's plodding direction is detrimental to his script, leaving an overstuffed, overbaked finished product.
The play is set in small-town middle America in 1984. Leda (Diane Frank) and sister Daphne (Lynne Marta) are waiting for Marsha (Rendé Rae Norman) and Fay (Stephanie McVay), fellow members in the conservative group Daughters of Decency. The group is going to take an apple pie as a present to a senator who is speaking in town. The pie, however, was baked by Leda's feminist, nihilistic daughter Bernadine (Meeghan Holaway). And before leaving on cryptic errands, Bernadine tells Leda that the pie — as well as a package Leda is carrying — have bombs meant to blow up the senator. That Bernadine was in a mental health facility for blowing up a bank years earlier adds credence to her claim.
The exploding pie concept takes too long to set up. The second scene adds little and could be eliminated from the two-hour play. Moreing's pacing negates any tension building from the pie, which, oddly, he places in the corner and not center stage. What works well are the funny performances by Holaway and Norman. Holaway hunches her shoulders, rolls her eyes, and offers every line — except for an explosive monologue — completely deadpan. Norman's performance elevates the average material by selling her role as a boisterous and rude woman of means whose life crumbles in a single day. Frank, however, seems incapable of delivering her lines crisply, which further clogs the momentum.
It's difficult to remain interested until the enjoyable conclusion. Moreing needs to return to the kitchen and try a new recipe for this pie.
Presented by and at the Lillian Theater, 1076 Lillian Way, Hollywood. Thu.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Feb. 15-Mar. 31. (323) 960-7784.
The play is set in small-town middle America in 1984. Leda (Diane Frank) and sister Daphne (Lynne Marta) are waiting for Marsha (Rendé Rae Norman) and Fay (Stephanie McVay), fellow members in the conservative group Daughters of Decency. The group is going to take an apple pie as a present to a senator who is speaking in town. The pie, however, was baked by Leda's feminist, nihilistic daughter Bernadine (Meeghan Holaway). And before leaving on cryptic errands, Bernadine tells Leda that the pie — as well as a package Leda is carrying — have bombs meant to blow up the senator. That Bernadine was in a mental health facility for blowing up a bank years earlier adds credence to her claim.
The exploding pie concept takes too long to set up. The second scene adds little and could be eliminated from the two-hour play. Moreing's pacing negates any tension building from the pie, which, oddly, he places in the corner and not center stage. What works well are the funny performances by Holaway and Norman. Holaway hunches her shoulders, rolls her eyes, and offers every line — except for an explosive monologue — completely deadpan. Norman's performance elevates the average material by selling her role as a boisterous and rude woman of means whose life crumbles in a single day. Frank, however, seems incapable of delivering her lines crisply, which further clogs the momentum.
It's difficult to remain interested until the enjoyable conclusion. Moreing needs to return to the kitchen and try a new recipe for this pie.
Presented by and at the Lillian Theater, 1076 Lillian Way, Hollywood. Thu.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Feb. 15-Mar. 31. (323) 960-7784.
