Theater review
“Gods don’t die, they just change form,” playwright Madeleine George tells us, so when Dionysus, peeved about two things — being ignored for centuries and what humans have done to Earth during that time — returns to the planet to drum up some new worshippers, he does so as Diane, a militant progressive gardener (Rhonda J. Soikowski).
Hungry to heal the damage and seduce some acolytes while she’s at it, Diane’s first target is a suburban New Jersey cul-de-sac (you gotta start somewhere) and its small clique of close but gossipy pals: brittle, status-conscious Carol (Jenn Ruzumna); recently divorced doormat Beth (Jennifer Ewing); brassy, echt-Italian Pam (Jesica Avellone); and grounded but susceptible Renee (Vahishta Vafadari).
Dionysus’ alter ego, as introduced in George’s “Hurricane Diane,” which opened March 20 at Seattle Public Theater, is honestly a bit of a pill: self-righteous, vainglorious and snarkily dismissive of the ideas of the four women whose yards she shows up to landscape. I understand the environmental argument against lawns, endless carpets of sterile manicured green, but I can also sympathize with Pam’s nostalgic yearning for a charming little dollop of Tuscan villa in her backyard, and I bet you can, too.
But like the windstorm she allegorizes, Diane levels all resistance. Also, in working her divine wiles, she isn’t quite as respectful of consent as she ought to be. What kind of message is that to send to ancient deities visiting 21st-century America? No means no, Diane. Her conviction that the path to building an earthly ecotopia is unquestioning submission to an authority figure is the first of the show’s minor ironies.
George does achieve a very adroit interlacing of character-driven comedy a la Neil Simon — just throw a bunch of funny people together in a relatable, comfortable milieu, and let them go at it — with an unapologetic environmental agenda. (The words “sustainable” and “permaculture” crop up in George’s script almost as often as “is” and “the.”) The mini-rant George has Renee give about domestic beekeeping, then, is kind of a head-scratcher. She’s a magazine editor not happy about being assigned to do a story on the topic, but isn’t the decline of the bee population supposed to be one sign of ecological degradation? Bees are our friends! Bees will heal the Earth! What’s Renee’s problem?
George’s other satirical misfire is to have Diane put Carol on the spot about the pharmaceutical company she works for. The playwright assumes a stance no audience member could possibly disagree with, which feels like gratuitous deck-stacking. What’s said deserves to be said, of course, but being anti-birth defects is not exactly taking a dramatic risk.
All that aside, George’s script is brisk, imaginatively nimble in its folding-together of ancient myth and modern attitudes, and very funny, both in its situations and dialogue. Director Annie Lareau has a virtuoso quintet of actors to work with, top-notch in delivering George’s potluck of broad farce, pointed parody, affectionate caricature and subtle character detail.
Seattle Public’s production of “Hurricane Diane” provides five of the best comic performances you are likely to see in Seattle. These are women you’ll enjoy spending time around, laughing heartily with (and occasionally at). Just keep your grass mowed, bring a nice chardonnay, and if a pushy demigod in overalls starts badgering you about milk vetch, just smile and firmly close the door.
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