Theater review by Elizabeth Warnimont
Special to The Herald

“Relatively Speaking,” the current offering by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, is a relatively new work, a trio of short plays that premiered on Broadway in September 2011. The three stories each touch on the wide spectrum of relationships among men and women and how the society we grow up with shapes our destinies.

The opening play, “George is Dead” by Elaine May, involves a woman’s inability to cope with the sudden death of her husband. In the second, “Talking Cure” by Ethan Coen, a psychiatrist (well played by Geoffrey Colton) tries unsuccessfully to get his patient to talk about the incident that landed him there in the mental hospital. The third and longest play, “Honeymoon Motel” by Woody Allen, is a flypaper comedy that starts out with just a bride and groom and brings various wedding party members on scene one at a time, until their seedy honeymoon suite is overflowing with zany characters.

May’s “George is Dead” is easy to follow. Christina Stoffan is perfectly cast as Doreen, a spoiled socialite who doesn’t have a clue where to turn after she gets the news that her husband has died in a skiing accident. The play opens as her childhood friend Carla (Erika Bakse) answers her doorbell late one night to find Doreen standing there in her pretty red coat, blurting out that her husband has died and she has nowhere to turn. Carla is understandably surprised, seeing as how she hadn’t seen the woman since her mom was Doreen’s nanny, back when she and Doreen were kids.

While Doreen has presumably lived a life of luxury, Carla, whose mom spent most of her time caring for Doreen when they were little, is now struggling with her marriage and living in a tiny, one-room apartment.

That theme of unfolding destiny is mirrored in the next and strangest of the three plays, Coen’s “Talking Cure.”

It’s no accident that one actor, in this case Dominick Palamenti, plays both father and son here, demonstrating a cause-and-effect as the son of dysfunctional parents (“Larry”) ends up in crisis after he suffers a sudden, violent outburst at his place of work. The way his father (“Husband”) had treated his mom (Meira Perelstein as “Wife”) before he was born presents a stark contrast to the relationship Doreen presumably enjoyed with her husband in the previous play.

“Cure” asks quite a bit more of the audience, too, as we’re only vaguely and gradually clued in as to what exactly happened with Larry, and when the scene changes abruptly from the psychiatrist’s office to a middle-aged couple’s living room, there is no immediate indication that we are still in the same play, let alone in Larry’s childhood home.

The last play, “Honeymoon Motel,” is Jewish comedy in true Woody Allen form, involving a number of absurdly neurotic wedding guests. It’s a little tricky to describe without giving away the central plot twist, but essentially one outlandish act causes conversation to turn to everyone else’s dirty secrets, and in the end the one most expected to make sense of it all (Stanley Spenger as Rabbi) has the vaguest notion about it, while instead the pizza delivery man (Cameron Dodd as Sal) offers up the sagest advice.

The style of comedy differs greatly between the three plays. “George is Dead” feels like a sitcom, its characters narrowly but clearly defined so the comedy comes when they surprise us with unexpected responses. As Doreen reveals more and more of her selfish and controlling nature, the surprises become starker and the laughs get heartier.

“Talking Cure” is much more sedate. The humor is darker. We laugh with the shrink as he keeps trying and failing to keep his patient on topic, and Larry makes us laugh with his sarcastic responses, even though they reveal his yet-unresolved anger at society in general and his tragic inability to recognize the possibility of resolution.

“Honeymoon Motel” is the most lighthearted of all. The situations, while conceivable, are nonetheless comically absurd. We’re laughing all the way through, and it never feels like anyone is genuinely wounded by the hurtful actions they’ve inflicted upon each other.

While I found “George is Dead” to be the easiest of the three plays to enjoy, it’s nice that the funniest one, Allen’s rollicking “Honeymoon,” comes last, leaving the audience in the highest possible spirits.

If You Go
“Relatively Speaking” continues at the Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, through Jan. 25. Tickets are $12 to $15 and are available through Brown Paper Tickets, 800-838-3006 or online at brownpapertickets.com. For more information or to reserve your seats, contact the theater directly at 510-649-5999 or visit aeofberkeley.org.

Elizabeth Warnimont is a freelance writer specializing in the performing arts. She is also a substitute teacher for the Benicia Unified School District.