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Peer Reviews
Bunbury's
Autocare: Like a Revelation for Local Theatre
By Juergen K. Tossmann
Directed by Steve Woodring
Reviewed by Todd Zeigler
Entire contents are copyright 2007 by Todd Zeigler. All rights reserved.
The big brother of the local Louisville stage,
Bunbury Theatre is breaking in its new space at
3rd and Chestnut with a delightfully manic comedy,
Autocare. Crafted in-house by Juergen K.
Tossman, the company's artistic director, this original
full-length play thrusts a melting pot of strangers
into situations surprising and sublime, with hilarious
-- and somewhat touching -- results.
Set in the River City of five years and two months
from present day, Autocare presents a group
of eclectic Louisvillians -- and one conspicuous
out-of-towner -- caught in a setting Beckett
would find familiar: the auto shop waiting room.
Flattening the chair cushions and snacking on Hohos
are: Charlie, the adorable curmudgeon who knows
the garage's price markup scheme like the
alphabet; his sweetly naïve wife, Pearl; Bonnie,
the redheaded and fiery-tempered born-again ...
again ... Christian; and Jack, the out-of-towner
in one heckuva hurry. Service technician Dickey
alternately babysits and price-gouges the group,
while facing the perpetual browbeating of the mechanics
and other visitors to the garage.
Tossmann’s vision of the not-too-distant
future is sweetly satirical and just plain funny.
He foresees customer-service policies taken beyond
the absurdity of our current labyrinthine medical
plans and call-in menus that have the progress
rate of a Super Mario game. Jack is practically
offered a mortgage plan for all the add-on services
Dickey swears are necessary. Meanwhile, Pearl restlessly
stirs about, waiting for the shop's complimentary
shuttle to lunch. Only the best on Ladies Day,
after all.
The show is also replete with little nods and jabs
at our current cultural landscape. Everything from
current Presidential hopefuls to our own Mayor-For-Life
(official by 2012) is tossed up for a slam or two.
The show also has a "fill-in-the-cultural-reference-blank"
quality similar to Actors Theatre’s recent
showcase, Hedwig
and the Angry Inch, that could localize
this script just about anywhere. Fill in your Mayor-For-Life's
name, and for all we know we could see Autocare:
Paducah someday.
The peculiarity in the room -- and that is
saying something -- is Bonnie’s newborn bundle
of joy, which she swears came via Immaculate Conception.
Judging from Bonnie's years and roaming masseuse
hands, the delivery must have been postdated.
Talk is in the air of a coming Messiah, and Bonnie
is convinced her sweet little thing is the real
deal. But others beg to differ. In ambles Clyde,
Bonnie's ex-husband and a fire-and-brimstone
evangelical adorned with a mullet and cutaway t-shirt.
He swears the child is the Antichrist come to earth,
and possesses knowledge of South American apocalyptic
prophecy that belies his backward baseball cap.
All seems routine for these folks: the exes fight,
the old coot spouts one-liners, and the ladies
war over the daily raffle drawing. Nothing out
of the ordinary -- until the baby starts repeating
a certain someone's name.
The quality of performance Bunbury has cultivated
through two decades of existence is on full display
here. Director Woodring has assembled a cast of
local and card-carrying stage veterans and coupled
them with a bit of new blood. The results are not
perfect, but still pleasing. Matt Orme merits an
award for his comic timing as Charlie. Liz Vissing
is a spry and endearing Pearl, Charlie's
better half. Ted Lesley's Dickey is both
pathetically and sympathetically Dickey. His vodka-aided
descent into ... well, drunkenness, is a triumph
for him and anyone in the audience with an overbearing
boss (that’s right -- all of you). Valencia
Bass gives Bonnie enough sincerity and heart to
keep her out of the caricature danger zone.
Newcomers to the Bunbury stage balance out the
years of experience in the rest of the cast. Mike
Burmester, brand new to the stage with this show,
puts on a laudable performance as the roughneck
Clyde. He no doubt benefited from working with
the seasoned veterans around him. He need only
stop trying so hard to act like a redneck, and
he would settle into Clyde's motorcycle boots
perfectly. Jeremy Gutierrez, the youngest of the
ensemble, would benefit from looking his fellow
actors in the eye as he performs. That might give
him the outlet he seems to have trouble finding
for all the nervous energy put into his role.
The technical aspects of the show were crisp, well-developed
and unobtrusive. The set featured all the minutiae
of how a body shop might look five years from now.
That is, a lot like it does in 2007. Lighting cues
were a well-employed accoutrement in pressing the
story forward. Only the use of what seemed to be
a stock lava-lamp effect for the post-climactic
finale seemed underdone.
Tossman, Woodring and company are to be applauded
for coming out full-force with a highly entertaining
show in their space, heralding the resurgence of
a mainstay group in Louisville. If Autocare is
any indication of the season to come, Bunbury theatre
is well into third gear, far, far away from autopilot.
Autocare
Oct. 17 - Nov. 4, Wednesday-Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday
at 2 p.m.
Bunbury Theatre at the Henry Clay Building, 3rd
and Chestnut
502-585-5306
www.bunburytheatre.org
Posted Oct. 22, 2007
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