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MERE MORTALS
by David Ives
July 16 - August 15, 1999
Maryann Curmi and Michael MagerMerry mortality seen on stage in Sonora
By LEO STUTZIN, MODESTO BEE ARTS EDITOR
(Published: Wednesday, July 21, 1999)SONORA -- David Ives, whose wise-and-wacky "Mere Mortals" opened Friday at Stage 3, has been likened to such esteemed inventors of theatrical absurdity as Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco.
I prefer to think he took his lead in this 1997 show from Shakespeare, if anyone. Specifically, from "Macbeth": "There's nothing serious in mortality: All is but toys." And from "A Midsummer Night's Dream": "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
In the five short plays that comprise "Mere Mortals," Ives parades some 20 foolish humans across the stage, toying with their insecurities, illusions, delusions, deceptions and other frailties. The result is pure hilarity, with a sparkly aftertaste of intelligence and compassion.
Oops, slight error. Make that some 20 foolish humans and two delightful mayflies.
Bugs May and Horace (Maryann Curmi and Michael Mager) discover each other in a stagnant little pond, just a few hours after their parents have passed on to whatever reward awaits their species. They flirt, dodge bullfrogs and watch TV, where they see themselves starring in a David Attenborough documentary on pond life. Attenborough (a smugly genial Dave Lehman) provides them with the shocking news that a mayfly's life lasts but a day.
The discovery prompts a spirited response: If all they have is one day, they'll live it with eagerness and adventurous spirits, and make it as full as they can. It's an adult fairy tale, side-splitting in hilarity, gentle in its poignancy, obvious but inspiring in its metaphoric moral. Called "Time Flies," the playlet is the lightest of the five, but not by much.
There's scarcely more weight to "Mere Mortals," which takes place on an I-beam 50 stories above the ground, among three hard-hatted construction workers on their lunch break. Macho males aren't known for willingness to bare their innermost secrets to each other, but these guys are different. Their secrets are out of this world -- matters of inner identity that even their wives don't know -- and their revelations challenge each other's ability to believe, and their capacity for one-upmanship.
Lehman, Mager and Doug Scott create distinct personalities that are as masculine as they are funny, and skillfully disguise Ives' playful questions about how well we know ourselves, or each other.
Mager appears in four of the tales, teaming with Julianne Buhler in two of them. One embodies the premise that when males and females connect, words don't always convey truths. It's called "English Made Simple." In the other, "Degas, C'est Moi," he's a jobless New Yorker who convinces himself that he is Edgar Degas, then sets out on a day-long odyssey through indifference and hostility before reaching a feel-good epiphany: Being yourself isn't so bad, especially when you notice the beauties around you.
The evening's most raucous playlet, "Dr. Fritz or: The Forces of Light," lets Curmi cut loose in two roles. She's the saw- wielding, bellowing Dr. Fritz, a German surgeon in some Latin land; she's also his trinket- peddling assistant, who talks to God on a doll-shaped telephone. Both had Friday's audience in stitches.
Their antics are inspired by the I-wanna-die state of a tourist-stricken tourist (Lehman, in cheery agony).
Don Bilotti directed, shaping each skit to its own rhythms and drawing impressively varied performances from his cast of five.
Stage 3 seizes the day in excellent presentation of 'Mere Mortals'
By Sherman Spencer
Special to The Stockton RecordA truly original theatrical voice can be heard in the short plays of David Ives. He speaks with an antic combination of off-the-wall situational comedies spiked with profound ontological concerns.
His 1997 collection of five pieces, combined under the title "Mere Mortals" -- now in an excellent production at Sonora's Stage 3 Theatre Company -- examines both the problems and the rewarding possibilities of being mortal.
Though Ives has written in many forms, his favorite medium, and his greatest successes, are his one-act plays, which often have the surreal quality of Monty Python sketches.
The cast of "Mere Mortals" -- Maryann Curmi, Julianne Buhler, Michael Mager, Doug Scott and Dave Lehman -- play roles ranging from steelworkers on a lunch break to mayflies contemplating the limitations of a life that lasts but one day.
The opening work, "English Made Simple," featuring Mager, Buhler and Scott, humorously but incisively examines the many possible ramifications and hidden meanings in the most casual of polite conversations.
"Mere Mortals," which shares the title of the collection, has three steelworkers (Lehman, Scott and Mager) perched on a beam on the 50th floor of a building under construction, combining mundane talk of TV programs and bowling with their fantasies of secret identities.
Perhaps the most effective sketch has Mager and Curmi as mayflies discovering and coming to terms with the brevity of their 24-hour life spans. Ultimately, they accept the limitations of their existence -- being born, eating, procreating and dying shared by all other living creatures -- with a determination to make the most of it.
This carpe diem philosophy is the implicit theme that links each of the sketches.
In the process of their reaching this decision, we are entertained by a delightful satire of contemporary life, including a takeoff on TV documentaries with Lehman as naturalist David Attenborough.
"Dr. Fritz," with its combination of the physical comedy of a burlesque routine and metaphysical religious communication, seemed the most difficult to come to terms with, in spite of the excellent performances of Curmi and Lehman.
In the final piece, "Degas, C'est Moi," Ed (Mager), unemployed and depressed, decides to assume the identity of French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas. He reacts with an artist's eye to the hidden beauty to be found even in the ugliness of everyday living. Buhler plays his uncomprehending wife, and the others have cameo roles as the people he encounters.
Every cast member of this show performs superlatively both as individuals and as ensemble performers.
Mager, who has a major role in all but one selection, deserves special praise. Though he convincingly portrays each characterization, he remains the archetypical Everyman whose mortal destiny on earth can, with understanding and effort, be ultimately rewarding.
Director Don Bilotti captures the unique mood of each segment, and then he links them all together into a meaningful whole. Over the proscenium, set designer Charles Blackwell has symbolically placed Michelangelo's painting of the hand of God touching Adam's hand with the gift of mortal life. Shoshana Dubiner has dressed the cast appropriately and attractively, and Ron Madonia designed the lighting with expertise.
Once again, Stage 3 provides an excellent production of a thoughtful and entertaining modern work.
