The Roommate
Jen Silverman
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Julia Brothers & Susi Damilano |
Who does not remember those terribly awkward, first few
minutes (hours? days? years?) trying to size up a new roomie? Sharon is trying her best to welcome Robyn
into her big, old home on the outskirts of Iowa City, so much so her smile has
uncomfortably and completely commandeered her entire face. She is trying to convince the new arrival
that Iowa’s tornadoes are “no scarier than the Bronx,” where she can hardly
believe Robyn actually chose to live prior to driving all her boxed belongings here
to the Midwest. Robyn looks suspiciously
in mild but clear disbelief as Sharon rattles off a slew of run-on sentences,
punctuated by questions that Robyn seems never to answer ( such as “What do you
do?” “What do you write about?” “What do you grow?”).
Two middle-aged women, apparently as different as night and
day, are now under the same roof learning about one’s almond milk and about the
other’s weekly reading group in Jen Silverman’s immediately funny (with some
dark twists and turns) and ultimately touching The Roommate. As staged by
San Francisco Playhouse under the pitch-perfect direction of Becca Wolfe and
with two leading actors for whom their parts were seemingly written (Susi
Damilano and Julia Brothers), The
Roommate has been touted by The Los
Angeles Times as The Odd Couple “taking
a sly shift” to Breaking Bad. There is some Thelma and Louise mingled in, too;
only these two strangers-turned-cohorts go off on some daredevil capers
together without ever leaving the kitchen table.
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Susi Damilano & Julia Brothers |
Sharon, recently “retired from my marriage,” is proud she is
actually from Illinois and not Iowa. “I
look Iowan but I’m not; that’s my secret weapon,” she boasts to the woman in
short-cropped hair, boots, and no-bra tank-tops who lands on her doorstep in
response to an online ad. In her
pony-tail and skirt, Sharon is all too eager to make her new roomie feel
welcome but is more than alarmed when she catches the proclaimed vegan smoking.
(“I thought I had ruled out junkies.”)
It takes a constant dose of probing that first week; but
slowly the unanswered questions she has about this ex-potter, ex-poet get some
responses. The answers suddenly liberate
staid, nervous Sharon into an exhilarating -- but maybe now-dangerous -- world
of self-discovery and self-confidence as well as some feelings she thought no
longer existed within her.
Susi Damilano is a wonder to watch as in the course of the
play’s one hour, fifty minutes she completely overhauls Sharon – an initially
sugar-sweet, somewhat silly, and in many ways sad loner stuck in this big house
with no husband and a grown son in New York who will not answer her many voice
mails. Her Sharon, who starts out more
1950s than not, transforms into a dynamo ready and reckless to break all the
boundaries and mores drilled into her by others in order finally to experience
a life she gets to define herself.
Ms. Damilano’s entire being – from the way she carries
herself to her voice to her entire countenance and demeanor – re-awakens Sharon
on so many dimensions, bringing much laughter, causing some mild shock, and
eventually tugging at heartstrings among the enraptured audience. Whether leaning on the porch column in awed wonder
at the stars while totally high on her first pot, dancing wildly to music that
she is hearing as if for the first time in her life, or holding a gun with
empowered gleam and thrill shooting from her eyes, her Sharon is someone we
dare not blink in order not to miss a second of her on-stage presence.
Robyn is much more the mystery of this twosome. She observes
the initial bubbliness of her new landlady with much silence, a slightly raised
eyebrow, and a proneness to keep her distance – physically and
emotionally. Information is hard to come
by from her; but when she speaks after hesitation, it is with emphatic emphasis
and hands that mark phrases with widely extended fingers frozen into
place. Her river runs deep, and we learn
that its course has traversed fields wild and wooly – especially by Sharon’s
standards. After all, as Robyn accounts,
“I was born as a malleable, changeable template.”
Julia Brothers knows when to downplay her portrayal of the
new, peculiar arrival into Sharon’s ho-hum world and exactly when and how to
ratchet Robyn up to reveal a personality capable of a cornucopia of identities
and pasts that capture our and Sharon’s attention. She employs a plethora of toned-down nuances
and subtleties that contrast wonderfully with Sharon’s abundance of
appropriately over-done expressions of enthusiasm, drama, and emotions. Robyn leads the way in creating a special,
blended bond between the two, contrasting roomies; and yet Ms. Brothers never
fully betrays the hidden parts of Robyn even as she increasingly offers here
and there intriguing glimpses into who Robin really is.
Taking Jen Silverman’s efficiently brilliant script, Becca
Wolff has sculpted it into an ebb and flow that keeps pushing further into new
territories of discovery and surprise of facts, actions, and personalities
without ever flooding us with too much, too soon. Everything she has created with the team
around her enhances in often astounding ways the journey she and the playwright
take us on.
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Julia Brothers & Susi Damilano |
Nina Ball’s set immediately convinces us of the house’s
large size, its Midwest character, and the years of attention taken to make it
homey. Jacqueline Scott’s properties
fill in all the specifics that call for more time to explore than we have but that
also lead to much humor and surprise.
The set’s big windows and beautifully sculpted second story
open up into some of the most stunning daytime and nighttime skies that Iowa or
this audience has probably ever seen, thanks to the projections of Theodore
J.H. Hulsker. His choice of colors
sometimes flooding scene changes as well as the music he chooses as sound designer
echo the mood and/or surprise of the receding scene while helping us anticipate
what is coming next. Rounding out the creative
talents are Robert Hand as lighting designer and Melissa Trn, whose costumes
offer character insights and sometimes their own moments of chuckle.
The Roommate
challenges its audience to questions assumptions about what is proper and right
(especially for a woman of middle age) as defined by society; tradition; and
just plain, old, good sense. Jen
Silverman’s play does so while tickling our innards and touching our
hearts. The Creative Team of San
Francisco Playhouse, Director Becca Wolff, and two perfectly cast actors ensure
that The Roommate is going to
continue to bring smiles and fond memories of its individual scenes for a long
time to come.
Rating: 5 E
The Roommate continues
through July 1, 2017 at 2016 at
San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street.
Tickets are available at http://sfplayhouse.org/ or by calling the box office at
415-677-9596.
Photos
by Jessica Palopoli