Presented by Door Number 3
Review by Catherine Siggins
Housing. A topic on everyone’s lips. From Los Angeles to London, in every capital city, affordable homes or rental properties are becoming more scarce, and for an increasing portion of the population, out of reach. So imagine if one day you got a letter from a government agency saying you are being given a home, in an abandoned development, gratis. All you are responsible for is the repairs and improvements. Better still, if you sell it you get to keep all the money. You’d take it, right? You’d be happy with just that, right? According to provocative British playwright, Philip Ridley, you might not. Wouldn’t you want a sports car in the garage, a home cinema, the landscaped garden too? What would you be prepared to do to have your dream home?
In this pitch-black satire, a young couple Jill (Britt Harris) and Ollie (Kapil Talwalkar) impart the story of how they found themselves in possession of said free home, care of a government program called Social Regeneration Through the Creation of Dream Homes. Within the first few nights, they discover that there is a way for them to renovate and redecorate that doesn’t involve any trips to Home Depot or DIY on their part. The catch being they must do some terrible, shocking things, to some vulnerable people, namely the homeless who live around them.
For this couple, what starts as an understandable desire to escape their tiny flat in the “crime capital of the universe” and provide a safe home environment for their new infant, gradually morphs into unquenchable materialism and conspicuous consumption, ending in a complete moral vacuum. With each new shiny toy or interior they acquire, they chip off another piece of their humanity, rationalizing that it’s “all for baby”.
The stage set, a bare house frame, lends itself well to the magical needs of the story and it’s a perfect jungle gym for the energetic and physical performances of lead actors, Britt Harris and Kapil Talwalker. Their command of the space never falters even when it reaches a crescendo while reenacting “the birthday party from hell”, where they portray all nine of their neighbors. Hardly stopping to draw breath, both Harris and Talwalker fluidly move from character to character with ever growing hilarious results. It is a bravura performance on both their parts.
With great poise and wit, Laura Faye Smith plays Miss Dee, the government rep who encourages and manipulates them like a devilish Mary Poppins into signing away their very souls. Smith also makes a moving second appearance as Kay, a sad fly caught in the couple’s web. To top it all, the American cast nails all the different UK accents.
Funny and appalling in equal measure, what makes this play additionally engaging for the viewer is that they don’t get to just sit back and judge. True to Ridley’s “in-yer-face” style, the fourth wall is broken, as all the characters directly address the audience, creating the feeling that they are colluding. It produces some wonderfully uncomfortable laughter and silences.
This is a radiant first offering from the newly transplanted Portland theatre company, Door Number 3, under the artistic direction of Tim True.
Where: Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025. Performances Thursday, Fridays, and Saturday at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm. Ends Nov. 18
