by Geoff Hoff~

There’s no getting around it. I don’t like script for the play Jesse Boy, now playing at the Ruskin Group Theatre. However, I fear that explaining why I don’t won’t be easy without giving too much about the play away, and no matter how much I dislike something, I am loath to ruin the experience of others who may like it a great deal. I will attempt in any case to express my concerns.

I know I will probably be in the minority of people who don’t like this play, there is everything here to arouse the sensibilities of the modern theatre audience — domestic violence, rape, molestation, dysfunctional relationships, obsessive love, sex, alcoholism, father/son relationships, murder, convicts with a heart of gold, strippers with a heart of gold, hints of homophobia and everything that implies, “special”, innocent people who have more wisdom than it seems, and Elvis. It’s all there, and for me that was a lot of why I don’t like it. It seemed contrived and manipulative. It didn’t feel honest at all. I realize that makes me sound jaded. Ah, well. The audience the night I saw the play seemed very much to enjoy it.

Abigayle and her developmentally challenged brother Jesse Boy have moved in with her boyfriend Richie in Southern Appalachia. He is an Elvis impersonator and used car salesman and he is angry at the hand life has dealt him. He gets the opportunity to compete with other Elvis impersonators at the Flamingo Hotel in Vegas. It will cost $1,000 for that opportunity. Oh, and he shoots the dog of the “faggot” who lives in the trailer next door. With no consequences besides one single line that said faggot has filed charges. This, of course, bodes ill for Richie.

Abigayle used to be an exotic dancer and her best friend Mary-Lou still works at the same strip club despite her handicap, a pronounced limp from a bum leg suffered when, as a child, she escaped… something sordid. I don’t remember the details. It’s a Southern play. Everything is sordid.

When I entered the Ruskin Group theatre I was really excited. The set by Roberta Chrisensen was incredible. I thought I’d been transported into the living room/kitchen of a “poor white trash” trailer, decorated with Elvis memorabilia. It was wonderful. The sound was odd, though; very well chosen pop songs that didn’t so much segue from one to another as end abruptly, leading one to think the play was starting, only to start the next well chosen pop song, which also ended abruptly.

I was further excited in the first moments of the play (after an odd fade to extreme bright white light that lasted for a very, very long time, followed by a fade to black) where an obviously emotionally, physically and developmentally challenged adult is watching television, parroting the jingle of the used car salesman, there.

The character of Richie (played by Robert Mollohan, who also wrote the script) is inconsistent. In act one, he’s a parody, and not a very good one, of an ignorant good-old-boy. In act two, he is truly charming and truly dangerous, but it so much doesn’t mesh with his foolish (albeit violent) persona in act one that it left me cold. Even his costumes don’t match. He enters in act one in his Elvis hair and mutton chops (props to Mr. Mollohan for that) and garish plaid, ill fitting salesman pants and does a comic tribute to Elvis. In act two, he wears tight, form fitting jeans that show off his body but have no relationship at all with the plaid “jerk-pants” of act one. It is like two completely different people. Both good-old-boy assholes, but two completely different good-old-boy assholes.

Robert Mollohan is actually a very good, very committed actor, however he is unable to overcome the semi-comic stupidity of the character in act one. He is exceedingly good in act two, but by then I was so removed by anything happening on the stage that I wasn’t pulled back no matter how good he was.

Zack Book as Jesse Boy gives a game performance and after the first few moments of it it was just that, a performance. Technical. Except for a very violent moment in the second act which was truly frightening it was a conscious recreation of a handicapped man. A very good recreation, but a conscious one. It is interesting that, according to the program, this was Mr. Book’s theatrical debut. I expect great things from him.

Jaimi Paige was fine as Abigayle. She is a good actress and had some very affecting moments.

As for the character of Mary-Lou, played by Kathleen Nicole Parker, I had some problems. I love examinations of characters with traits that may not fit with each other. Much great writing is predicated upon that. But an exotic dancer with a crippled leg simply doesn’t scan. Perhaps it was just this exotic dancer with this crippled leg. Perhaps it was in the performance. I didn’t quite believe she was really crippled or an exotic dancer.

Chris Mulkey was a true standout as Red, Richie’s ex-con father. Mr. Mulkey has been acting on television, in film and on stage for many years. That in itself doesn’t always mean a great performance, but in this case his experience really glowed through; he was subtle, brave, unexpected and not the least bit cliched, which a character like Red could very easily have been. His desire for a relationship with his son, his love for his “grandson”, his desire for companionship, were all real, affecting and deeply felt, as was his use of humor to get himself through the day. I don’t often gush. I will allow myself to in this instance.

Jesse Boy was directed by Karen Landry. The costumes were by Kaylee Quilling. Lighting and sound were also designed by Roberta Chrisensen, mentioned above.

Jesse Boy plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through June 12, 2010.

The Ruskin Group Theatre is located 3000 Airport Ave, Santa Monica, 90404 off S. Bundy Drive behind the Santa Monica Airport.

Tickets are $20.00, $15.00 for students, seniors and guild members.

Reservations on-line at www.ruskingrouptheatre.com or at (310) 397-3244