Review: Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck. Produced by Seattle Public Theater. Directed by Russ Benham. With Mark Fullerton, Joseph P. McCarthy, Carolyn Marie Monroe, John Murray and Heather Hawkins. Now through October 24 at The Bathhouse Theater.
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Mauritius, (pronounced “Mah-rish-us”), is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa. In the world of philataly, it refers to two very rare 19th century stamps worth millions of dollars. Mauritius, the play is about two sisters fighting over ownership of those stamps and the three men desperate to get their hands on them. Seattle Public Theater’s current production of the play is harmless entertainment with some fine performances and enough interest to keep you occupied for two hours. The play itself, is a load of claptrap, a ridiculously plotted thriller with a lazy attention to detail and enough plot holes and inconsistencies to sink the Titanic. The playwright, Theresa Rebeck has been bizarrely described as “a female Mamet” and that’s insulting to both David Mamet in particular, and women playwrights in general. Ms Rebeck cut her teeth writing for television, and it shows. Mauritius attempts to be both a feminized reworking of Mamet’s “American Buffalo” and a clever riff on beloved, detective dramas like “NYPD Blue” and “Law & Order”, (she has written for both programs). It’s definitely a pale copy of Mamet and it’s too pretentious to work as television drama. It’s a play with possibilities, but Rebeck’s lazy writing never lives up to them.
And, why are the characters so stupid? It’s set in 2007 and the Internet, as a research tool, is treated as a joke…also, no one has apparently heard of libraries, or books. The play is set in Detroit, yet all the characters center their attention on ONE expert and ONE philatelic shop in that city. Detroit is having hard times, yet it IS a large city with a significant population of wealthy people, (Grosse Pointe). I did 5 minutes of research online to find numerous options for philatelic research. Why not get second opinions?
The sisters, (they share a mother, but have different fathers) are fighting over ownership of the stamps following the death of their mother. The stamps were acquired by the older sister’s grandfather but ended up in the possession of the mother who died without a will. If the two half-sisters are the only issue of a woman who died without a will, both sisters have an equal claim on any and all property including a stamp collection that was put together by the grandfather of one sister and not the other, unless the grandfather left instructions towards this in HIS will. Also, the bitchy older sister seems to think she’s not responsible for the debts left by her mother at her death, since the older daughter wasn’t present in the life of her mother. I’m pretty sure that this doesn’t matter…if you die and you have debt, that debt is incurred by the estate and is the responsibility of the next of kin, ie BOTH sisters could be held accountable. Dumb.
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The characters are very broad and unlikely. The grumpy owner of the philatelic shop refuses to look at the stamps initially brought in by the younger sister despite the fact that is the sole purpose of his business, the buying and selling of valuable stamps. He’s a colorful character but an illogical one. The mysterious, wealthy operative seeking the stamps is a gangstery cartoon. No one seems very real, yet they are presented realistically.
I dislike the play but the production is fine. It’s an illogical and frequently irritating play, but it does have entertainment value, much like an episode of “Law and Order: SVU” or “CSI”. And, like those shows, Mauritius is very watchable, but also unlikely and a bit dumb. I enjoyed the acting, though like the play itself, sometimes it was a bit over the top, but I’ll single out Carolyn Marie Monroe as the feisty, younger sister Jackie and John Murray as the “go-between” guy Dennis for their compelling and energized performances, with Murray especially good as the seemingly laid back loser who is careful to hide his motivations. The direction was tight and the design elements were appealing.
Who’s this for? Theater goers looking for entertainment that’s light and tv-friendly. If you’re looking for challenging art and entertainment, look elsewhere.
– Michael Strangeways
