Theater Reviews

Jun 24, 2002 - Nevada Rep's "Comic Potential" Is More Potential Than Comic

By Jack Neal

Due to a proliferation of television programming and a dearth of acting talent, British playwright Alan Ayckbourn's "Comic Potential" envisions a future with acting robots, or actoids as he calls them. It's a nifty premise that runs out of gas once a few variations on Ayckbourn's theme have run the gauntlet of his comic setups.

The play, which opened Friday (6/21/2002) at the Redfield Studio Theatre on the University of Nevada Reno Campus, is being produced in Reno by the Nevada Repertory Company under the direction of Jim Bernardi.

Ayckbourn's piece takes place in the near future when there are so many television programs requiring so many actors it's cheaper to use reusable robots as actors than real people who make salary and health insurance demands above and beyond the call of reason and bottom lines. The twist here is that one of the robots, Jacie Triplethree, develops human emotions which throws a wrench into management's best laid plans. Jacie is brought to life by the gifted young actress Cassie J. Hill. From her mechanical-doll like yet flowing movements, to her marvelously expressive eyes and voice, Hill is the most lively and lovely automated creation outside of Disneyland.

Ayckbourn uses Jacie as the central theme upon which he builds variations to explore the nature of comedy. He has ambitious writer Adam Trainsmith (Casey Maxwell) and alcoholic has-been director Chance (Brian Barney) instruct Jacie in double takes, pratfalls and custard-pie throwing. For the most part these gimmicks work, but there are too many time fillers, such as a prolonged dance sequence as Jacie and the smitten Adam attempt to break out of their world of TV studiodom and into the real world of human bonding.

Essentially, "Comic Potential" is a variation on the Cinderella story, only instead of going to the ball Jacie gets to see what it's like to be a real girl. Adam is her Prince Charming. Her evil stepmom is personified by the viperish Carla Pepperbloom, the studio boss who threatens to have Jacie melted down if she doesn't shape up. Carla is given a poisonous run for her money by an assertively bitchy Natalie Sullivan.

A problem faced by directors beyond the walls of paid performers is having a casting pool large enough to make shrewd casting choices. Clearly director Bernardi's choices were too limited. The chemistry needed between Jacie and Adam to make the play work on both its lighthearted and poignant levels never sparks enough to ignite. Hill's Jacie is terrific. Maxwell's management of Adam is good acting, but not the Adam of Jacie's - or an audience's - dreams.

Likewise Barney, as capable as he is, is not the catalyst performer needed to make Chance the alcoholic has-been of a TV director work to the advantage of the interplay between the play's three pincipals or the comedy expectations of an audience. Nor does the production have the directorial shaping to give an adrenalin zip to sight gags and line delivery or find a more potent niche for exploring Jacie's growing awareness of her alien nature and the pain of being human. Fortunately, Hill brings such warmth to this potentially maudlin material she transforms it into a touching meditation on the agony of emotion.

Director Bernardi has surrounded his principals with a largely capable cast. Kris Wallek, Simon Marx, Gary L. Metzker, Marie Schultz, Kenneth L. Shackleford and Gary Carlson give fine support in a variety of small roles. Katy Shelor and Erika Lore Frank are suitable, if unwilling, sidekick aides for the shenaningans of director Chance. To say that Tyler Dean (Marmion) is too much is to understate the case, but he does have theatrical chutzpah to spare. Michael Fernbach's austere scenic design works but it would be more fun if it weren't so bland.

When all is said and done, however, the needle on the compass of this production still points to a very magnetic Cassie J. Hill. It's her performance as a robot whose emotions are an amalgam of all the bad scenes she's ever played that makes experiencing Nevada Rep's "Comic Potential" a more than worthwhile summer theatergoing experience.

"Comic Potential" can be seen at the Redfield Studio Theatre on the University of Nevada Reno campus, 900 North Virginia Street, Reno, Saturday (6/22) and Wednesday through Saturday (6/26 29/2002) at 7:30 p.m. For information call 775-784-6847.