The Scene
Reviewed by David Kashimba
Photo by Eric Chazankin

 It’s hard to imagine any playwright taking a truly fresh look at relationships between men and women, yet Theresa Rebeck does it with a surrealistic twist. In The Scene, now playing at 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa, Rebeck takes a searing comic look at two men and two women. Charlie (Keith Baker) is married to Stella (Michelle Maxson). Charlie is an out of work actor financially supported by his hard working wife. Charlie’s best friend Lewis (Dodds Delzell) is secretly in love with Stella. Enter Clea (Rose Roberts), a hot young woman who openly admits that, “everybody falls in love with me all the time.”

Clea is very open about everything to the point where we can’t help laughing at her youthful enthusiasm. As part of that enthusiasm, she sees almost everything as being “surreal” including air and water. Nothing intimidates her; she is very outspoken and lives in the moment. She is a dichotomy, especially to Charlie who asks her: “How can you know so much and so little at the same time?”

Charlie immediately dislikes Clea and the feeling seems to be mutual, but this is merely the first step toward a fatal attraction – well not that fatal, it is a comedy after all. No one commits suicide or kills anybody, at least not physically, but there are surreal deaths and rebirths and the characters and the audience learn much. If anybody dies, it’s the audience dying from all the laughter this wild surreal comedy evokes.

Don’t miss this unique look at love and hate beautifully directed by Elizabeth Craven. For tickets or more information call (707) 523-4185 or visit www.6thstreetplayhouse.com.

Current / Touring / Archives / Links / Film / Video / Links / Home