Reviews: Naughty ducks and Tori Spelling take the stage at Annex.

Reviews: The Tale of Jemima Canard by Brandon J. Simmons. Directed by Carys Kresny. With Mary Murfin Bayley, Truman Buffett and Jillian Vashro. At Annex Theatre through May 21. Women in Peril by Joel Steinpreis and Craig Trolli. Directed by Jason Sharp. With Joel Steinpreis, Craig Trolli and Em’ma Gawd. At Annex Theatre through May 20.

Jillian Vashro and Truman Buffett in Brandon J. Simmons' "The Tale of Jemima Canard". Photo: Annex Theatre/Ian Johnston.

When I heard that Annex’s latest mainstage production, The Tale of Jemima Canard by Seattle actor/playwright Brandon J. Simmons was based on the classic children’s story by Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, I blanched a little. The idea of cutesy-wootsy anthropomorphic animal characters prancing around the Annex stage seemed a little too Children’s Theater-ish and twee for one of Seattle’s oldest and most respected fringe theaters and oddly out of character for a theater that specializes in sci-fi, fantasy, crime dramas and spoofs. If I’m being honest, I was dreading having to see and review it…not my cup of tea and ripe to be potentially awful.

So, I went to “Jemima Canard”, with trepidation and a sense of dread, and I was….very pleasantly surprised. Mr. Simmons has crafted a charming, thoughtful, dark parable that touches on creativity and the inner lives of creative artists; slavery and issues of class and race; feminism and sexuality and sexual politics; most of the Seven Deadly Sins, and manages to do it using ducks, hounds, and foxes and the basic plot of a classic children’s story. It’s a multi-layered, mature work that manages to balance the darker more primal moments with scenes of lightness and humor and does so with sincerity, artistry and brevity. It’s not a perfect work; I still don’t understand how the issue of slavery ties in with the life of Beatrix Potter, who lived decades after the practice was ended, or why some of the animals had American Southern accents and others had English accents, nor did I quite get the allusions to Potter perhaps having been sexually molested in her youth…is this based on fact or is it the playwright using dramatic license to make the Jemima plot line parallel to the Potter plot line? These questions don’t mortally damage the plot of “Jemima Canard” but they could/should probably be addressed in future revisions and productions of the play.

One other plus: “Jemima Canard” was a brisk 80 minutes long or so, in two acts, an appropriate length for the demands of the story and I have to say, a refreshing change from other Annex productions of the recent past which have lingered too long and too wearily on their genre specific plots…

The play itself serves as a strong and credible base for this production but the direction, design and performances all live up to the script’s expectations. Carys Kresny’s subtle but precise direction grounds the fantasy and potential for overt tweeness with an assured vision of the needs of the work and she carefully layers the various tones and underlying meanings of the characters and situations. Emily Reitman’s tasteful, demure set simply utilizes Victorian draperies to frame the proscenium and two movable walls to create the various locations and the effect is charming and completely appropriate. Despite a small budget, Hannah Schnabel’s costumes look rich, ornate and authentic to the time period. And, this production wisely chose to not overdo the animal make-ups, simply using small appliances on the actor’s noses to imply their species; the effect is subtle but gets the point across and it’s well executed by Cole Hornaday.

All the actors in Jemima Canard are well cast and do a fine job with the standouts being Mary Murfin Bayley as the determined but wounded mistress/creator Beatrix Potter; Truman Buffett’s velvety smooth villain, The Tawny Whiskered Gentleman; and Jillian Vashro as the heroine, Jemima, who manages to not overplay the sillier, vapid characteristics of Jemima, which could be easy to do, and instead makes the character’s immaturity realistic and believable, and her ultimate fall from grace, all the more powerful.

The Tale of Jemima Canard is a work of great charm and delight but the whimsy and humor is layered with darker and more turbulent emotions and consequences. It’s an excellently mounted production of a work by a playwright with great promise, and one well worth checking out.
————————————————————————————————————————————

Playing the late night shift at Annex, is their co-production of Bad Actor Production’s parody of those “they’re so awful that they’re wonderful” Lifetime TV Movies of the Week so prominently produced in the 1980’s and 90’s and frequently starring Tori Spelling, Judith Light or Meredith Baxter Birney.  Woman in Peril written by Bad Actor founders Joel Steinpreis and Craig Trolli begs, borrows and steals every motif, plot device and contrivance featured in those films, and all three of those aforementioned actresses, or at least the familiar personas they so frequently portrayed, to create this travesty of what was actually a bit of a travesty to start with. It’s an obvious subject for satirical, late night, campy drag fringe theater and the all male cast has a lot fun with the material, but Woman in Peril never quite lives up to its potential. The three leading “ladies”: Mr. Steinpreis as “Judith”, Mr. Trolli as “Meredith” and Em’ma Gawd as “Tori” all have sharp comedic skills and a sense of comedic timing, but the script is too unfocused and slap-dash to provide much of a basis for the performances and it hurts the comedy. I think part of the problem is, the script is trying to be “crazy” and the performances are big and crazy and the two don’t mesh. Broad satire/parody works best when either the material is funny and the actors play the comedy written into the script, (Mel Brooks films for example) or, when the material is so over the top, the performers play their roles very deadpan (ala the “Airplane” and “Naked Gun” films). Women in Peril would probably work best if either the script was written very “straight” and ham acted, or vice-versa, but the “ham on ham” take on it, overwhelms the piece.

Still, it’s late-night, “you’re probably a bit buzzed and in the mood for drag queen theatrics” type of theater and it’s quite economical and there are some good laughs scattered amongst the wreckage of a few clunkers. Mr. Steinpreis nicely underplays the stupidity of his “Judith” when the need arises; Mr. Trolli makes a convincing monster, (though I don’t get why his “Meredith” Baxter Birney is played so ugly and old…) and Ms Gawd is very convincing as a bitchy “Tori” Spelling, though sadly for Ms Spelling, he’s far more attractive and feminine than the real thing. Todd Hull also convinces as the conniving, Hollywood, monster queen and both Jayson Potter and Peter Benjamin Farrar are appealing as the token stud muffins/eye candy required of any Camp Theater production and aren’t afraid to display ample amounts of firm, young man flesh. Jason Sharp’s direction manages to keep things somewhat on track and Maggie Ferguson-Wagstaffe has a lot of fun staging the numerous cat fights required.

I basically like two kinds of theater: Smart, edgy, arty stuff with brains and bravado, or ridiculously frothy trash with over the top performances. “Jemima Canard” did a good job of satisfying the former, but “WiP” didn’t quite meet the needs of the latter. I like Bad Actor Productions and want to see them do more shows, but they need to spend a bit more time on their scripts to achieve their maximum potential. You’re only as funny as the words you’re given to perform.