Theater Reviews

Feb 18, 2001 - Reno Little Theater's "Sylvia": A Bark That's As Good As Its Bite

By Jack Neal

When a middle-aged man enters his West Side New York apartment with a nubile female in tow, "it's not" - as one of Reno's suggestive adult lingerie shops proclaims - "what you think."

Sylvia (Rochelle Mezzano) restlessly explores the living room, sometimes nuzzling the man amorously, sometimes retreating and sulking, gazing out with big pleading eyes. Sylvia has never been in this place before and she's a stranger in an even stranger place. Becoming ever more anxious, she makes loud proclamations about the exotic sights, sounds and aromas of the place just as the man's wife, Kate, walks in.

Kate (Melanie Collup) is shocked to say the least. Yet she makes no personal remarks, no sexual accusations, no outbursts of jealousy. What IS going on? "Who is Sylvia?" Shakespeare wrote. "What is she?"

In this case, Sylvia is not a young woman although she's being played by one. The robust young creature is quite literally a dog, a mongrel, a stray Greg (Scott Van Tuyl) has found on his lunch break and decided to bring home. So begins playwright A. R. Gurney's souffle of a comedy about existence, as he calls it, where life takes on "a hint of retirement and the whiff of the nursing home." Gurney has made the province of the WASP his turf and most of his plays have a melancholy suggesting backgrounds of name schools and affluent upper-middle-class breeding, followed by too much scotch, neurotic squabbles and failed mid-life expectations.

Sylvia is given the power of speech ("Even when you hit me I love you!"), but only with one person at a time. Dogs usually fix on only one person and in this case Sylvia places her fixation entirely on Greg much to the constant dismay of Kate. Worse for Kate the process works two ways. Soon Greg finds himself as emotionally dependent on Sylvia as she is on him. All warnings from fellow dog walker Tom (Brian Bass) go astray. Tom cautions Greg that pet relationships can ruin marital relationships and he has the divorce to prove it.

Soon Greg loses interest in his job, his boss loses interest in him and Kate begins to feel she's in second place. Naturally, Kate finds the situation intolerable. Why did they move away from the suburbs if not to get away from situations like this?

Three people attempt to mediate: macho dog walker, Tom; Phyllis a boozy dowager who has known Kate forever and has put Greg down for almost as long; and Leslie a psychotherapist of dubious gender. During the play's successful off-Broadway run all three were played by the same actor, a tour de force one imagines given the differences between these three. Here two actors, Beth Petersen is Leslie and Phyllis and Brian Bass (and some nights during the play's Reno run, Jeff Galli) is Tom, play the three roles.

The questions is: Can the marriage of Kate and Greg be saved without putting Sylvia down? Without giving too much away, prospective playgoers only need remember that "Sylvia" is a comedy.

The play is deftly directed by RLT verteran director Tony DeGeiso. It's a one-joke play and can move even faster for my money than it does, but a faster rhythm will probably be struck once past opening night jitters. In the title role Mezzano snorts, whuffs, crawls and jumps with the vitality of a canine in control and she's absolutely charming. Collup is an excellent Kate and plays all her many scenes with the assurance of a seasoned pro, if not a seasoned dog lover. Van Tuyl is the kind of nicely confused wanderer in the middle of life's journey Gurney must have had in mind. Van Tuyl is a wholly comfortable and endearing Greg. Bass is an on-target Tom, giving a well-modulated glimpse into the philosophies of Bowser's (Tom's canine friend) master. And last, but certainly not least, Petersen's take on both Phyllis and Leslie keeps "Sylvia" spinning merrily along.

This first-rate cast is nudged along happily by a set, sound and lights (Rick Patton) that stays out of the way and lets the one-liners roll on. All this refreshingly good news seems to be paying off handsomely for Reno Little Theater. Opening night (2/17) was jam packed. Dog walkers, no doubt, taking a few hours off.

RLT's "Sylvia" can be seen Sundays (2/18 and 25) at 2, Wednesday (2/21) and Friday and Saturday (2/23 and 24, 2001) at 8 p.m. All performances are at the Reno Elk's Lodge, 597 Kumle Lane (across South Vriginia Street from the Reno-Sparks Convention Center), Reno. For information call 775-329-0661.