Wacky show with acting that brings down the 'House'

The phrase “Love it or hate it, but you can’t ignore it” has been used to death, but it remains a perfectly apt description for the senior thesis production “The House of Blue Leaves.” This John Guare play is the Lady Gaga of theater: It takes you by surprise at every turn and is sometimes just plain bizarre. The production has a tremendous variety of character and is extremely innovative; it even involves someone crawling on all fours. In doing so, it presents themes of fame, temptation and compassion with versatility that is unparalleled by many other performances.

The farcical tone of the show is set immediately when Artie — played by Brad Baron ’11 — speaks directly to the audience in a humorous and self-referential manner. An introduction to the funniest character in the play, Artie’s mistress Bunny — Olivia Stoker ’11 — follows. Baron and Stoker make a fantastic on-stage pair. Baron plays the part of an ambitious songwriter stuck in New York City. His life seems relatively ordinary until the audience is introduced to the characters around him. Stoker does a phenomenal job acting as his flamboyant neighbor-cum-mistress who dreams of Hollywood and provides effective comic relief with her clever dialogue.

Artie’s schizophrenic wife, Bananas — Lily Akerman ’13 — makes the lovers’ dreams of fame a little more complicated, as they don’t know how to get rid of her. Akerman steals the show with her depiction of this troubled woman; her incredibly believable tantrums, laughter and hysteria blow the audience away. While the performers certainly deliver, the first act does drag on with some monologues that, though insightful, seem random (with abstract descriptions of cab rides and a phone call that seems never-ending).

The second act, however, springs to life with an animated monologue from Artie’s son, Ronnie — Sebastian Franco ’12. Franco’s dynamism certainly livens up the mood, and the laughs keep coming as the living room (incredibly well-designed by set designer Jeff Van Velsor and stage carpenter Matthew Pilsner) is graced with the presence of superstar Corrina — Catherine Cohen ’13. As confusion ensues, Cohen pulls off the mayhem fabulously, and the scene has the audience laughing out loud.

However, even the fabulous acting and set don’t completely redeem the play as it devolves into a cacophony of sudden events. Within a span of 10 minutes there is a wild-goose chase in the middle of the room, someone leaves for Australia, a plot to kill the Pope unravels, an explosion takes place and someone is taken to a mental hospital, all while hysterical nuns run around. This slapstick climax of events effectively portrays the human jungle that the characters live in but is disappointingly abrupt and includes several moments where the audience may struggle to keep up. This frantic sequence of events is especially jarring considering the slow-moving first act. Despite great variety, too much information is thrown at the audience (such as references to plagiarism and rape, which are simply mentioned in passing and never brought up again).

Though the story’s continuity gets lost in places, the end manages to reel it all in with an poignant last scene between Artie and Bananas. Baron and Akerman powerfully portray the frustration and suffering of their lives and leave the audience on a thought-provoking note. Aside from the flaws in its script, “The House of Blue Leaves” is great entertainment with clever humor, fantastic sets and exceptional acting.