Play Review: Durang/Durang by Christopher Durang

Six short plays for one evening of performance:

Mrs. Sorken - a middle-aged suburban matron is scheduled to give a lecture on the meaning of theatre, but has lost her notes. Relying on memory, her comments are dotty, but definitely endearing. (1 woman)

For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls - In this parody of The Glass Menagerie, the fading Southern belle, Amanda, tried to prepare her hypersensitive, hypochondriacal son, Lawrence, for "the feminine caller". Terrified of people, Lawrence plays with his collection of glass cocktail stirrers. Ginny, the feminine caller, is hard of hearing and overbearingly friendly. Brother Tom wants to go to the movies, where he keeps meeting sailors who need to be put up in his room. Amanda tries to face everything with "charm and vivacity", but sometimes she just wants to hit somebody. (2 men, 2 women)

A Stye of the Eye - In this parody of Sam Shepherd's A Lie of the Mind, cowboy Jake is a rage-oholic who has probably killed his wife, Beth (played by a male). Ma, his feisty, no-nonsense mother with a bad memory, thinks Beth "deserved" it and wishes her own husband were dead (he already is). Jake, also schizoid, becomes his own "good brother Frankie" and goes to find Beth's family. Beth shows up, not dead, but damaged, and talking gibberish. Jake's sister, Mae, also shows up, in love with her brother. No problems are solved, but a great deal of "meaning" is in the air. (3 men, 4 women)

Nina in the Morning - is a style piece a la Edward Gorey. A tuxedoed narrator presents Nina, a preposterously narcissistic wealthy woman, attended by her butler, a silent maid, and her three children. The interwoven time-frame juxtaposes scenes from Nina's past behaviors with the present morning when she can't seem to get the butler to bring her a cruller.

Wanda's Visit - Jim and Marsha have been married for thirteen years and are feeling a little bored and unhappy. Wanda, Jim's old girlfriend, shows up for a visit and becomes the guest from hell. Out one night for dinner, all hell breaks loose in the restaurant as a waiter tries to cope on his first day with the confused threesome. (2-3 men, 2-3 women, flexible casting)

Business Lunch at the Russian Tea Room - Chris, a writer, has a business meeting at the Russian Tea Room with a new Hollywood hotshot, Melissa. At the Tea Room, Melissa pitches insane ideas Chris who can't wait to just leave this meeting. Once home, he tried so hard to write up the idea of a priest and a rabbi who fall in love (and other complications) that they appear to him to help him through. (3 men, 3 women)

I thought the plays were okay. They are silly and outdated. The pro is that these would be very easy to stage and produce. The con is that they are no longer relevant and hard to sell to a modern audience.