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Regional Reviews: St. Louis The Roommate Also see Richard's reviews of Life Is A Dream and Lungs
At the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, it's deliciously directed by Rebekah Scallet, who's also the artistic director of the New Jewish Theatre here. Thanks to her and her cast, this Roommate is packed with a psychological complexity that creeps up on you, contrasted with an almost abstractedly high level of visual normality: as two empty-nester women on stage struggle out of, and a little bit back into, their own particular realities. I suppose that means it's like a sitcom, but it's so much more than that. Even the script's "transitional" moments on stage are mined for character development, as when the two women simply cross for their next scenes in lights-at-half, silently grumbling with uncertain intent. It gets a lot friendlier later. But everything builds, and the comedy never slows down. Kelley Weber is excellent as Sharon, the sunny Iowa divorcée, and Nancy Bell is Robyn, who might as well be from Mars. The two characters (and actresses) are both around mid-life, and seem to know this whole roommate thing is a gigantic mistake almost right from the start. But, happily, their slow-motion car crash goes on for a little over 100 minutes with no intermission. Ms. Bell looks very much like a dangerous Nicole Kidman here, as Robyn, with long blonde hair. It's the early days of the internet, circa 2010, and the old days of just conniving to get by for Robyn, till now a longtime resident of the Bronx. Ms. Bell, as the New Yorker, acts as if she maintained a 360-view around her at all times, but seems to have just realized with a jolt that she has foolishly, metaphorically, paused halfway down some darkened alleyway, back in the big city. The whole show is an indefatigable plaything of the mind. The set by Robert Mark Morgan is what you might call "heightened reality": with exterior windows floating out above the kitchen where most of the action takes place, magically catching the dawn or sunset, thanks to lighting designer Jayson M. Lawshee. It's all somehow both real and cartoonish. Shannon B. Sturgis is the stage manager, which is a good thing because of all the unexpected entrances and costume changes, which go very quickly with the assistance of Kelsi Washington and Grace Erikson. I began to feel like I was having "object impermanence" issues when people popped up, re-entering where I wasn't expecting, over and over–because of the way days and weeks fly by, in a subtle parade of costumes by Lou Bird, that regularly combine to create a startling sensation. Unless both actresses have twin sisters I don't know about. Gradually, on stage, Sharon and Robyn become their own twins, or at least transform into other people. It starts out as the story of an underdog, a throwaway person, but that reverses from one woman to the other in the final forty-five minutes or so. And The Roommate has such a particular, signature ending which, if you haven't seen it before, is quite lovely. Till then, the mental characteristics and the reasoning of each woman grow vaguely animalistic. And once again we wander the exotic zoo of great theatre. But every little thing we do in our own lives that signifies anguish and joy also fills the stage here, and our hearts. The Roommate runs through November 17, 2024, in the The Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis, Emerson Studio Theatre, as part of the Steve Woolf Studio Series, at the Loretto-Hilton Center, 130 Edgar Road, St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.repstl.org. Cast: Production Staff: * Denotes Member, Actors' Equity Association |
