REVIEW: South Coast's 'Injured Party' examines art in a clever way

By PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 30, 2008 10:08 AM PDT ∞

Art, by its very nature, is subjective. No two people can look at a piece of art and see it the same way because their perspective is colored by their experiences, tastes and prejudices.

That's the sneaky surprise inside "The Injured Party," Richard Greenberg's clever multilayered comedy in its world premiere this month at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa.

On its surface, "The Injured Party" is a funny, fast-paced and very Jewish look at a dysfunctional collective of family and friends in New York's Upper West Side in mid-February 2005 (when the artist Christo gloriously filled Central Park with "The Gates"). But scratch through the first few layers of theatrical "paint" in this story, and another tale is waiting to be revealed.

Smartly and snappily directed by Trip Cullman, "The Injured Party" stars charismatic actor Reg Rogers in a wicked, tour-de-force performance as Seth Sutter, a frustrated, self-loathing, unsuccessful gay modern artist in his late 30s who schemes to inherit his 94-year-old grandmother Maxene's fortune of indeterminate size.

The vibrant Maxene (Cynthia Harris, credibly playing far beyond her years) has no intention of dying, though. She dangles her wealth before Seth like a carrot, hoping to inspire him to visit more often (especially during her annual "Jew Christmas" celebrations --- featuring a Christmas tree topped with a Star of David), to re-embrace his Jewish heritage and perhaps (as a starving artist) to find inspiration for his seemingly stunted art career.

Peopling their small universe are Seth's best friend, the ditzy actress Becca (an endearing Marin Ireland); Lawrence, the pretentious family friend who serves as Maxene's cultural companion (multifaceted T. Scott Cunningham); Bettina, a divorced kleptomaniac whom the rest secretly coddle by filling their apartments with flea market knick-knacks she's encouraged to steal (played with nutty detachment by Caroline Lagerfelt); and Hans, Maxene's handsome but aloof German butler (the chameleonlike Lorenzo Pisoni, who convincingly transforms himself into a half-dozen other characters as well).

Seth sees the others as competition for Maxene's millions, and his cruel manipulations and self-centered tantrums and stories ---- spoken in hilarious direct address to the audience ---- make up much of the play.

But if you're paying close attention, you'll see there's a play within this play (or at least an artwork slowly revealing itself during the show's 100 intermissionless minutes). Seth's masterpiece-in-progress ---- a vague sort of "happening"-type performance art project ---- is titled "The Re-enactments," a piece he describes as something akin to "deja vu, but you're seeing it for the very first time."

Yet while this recounted version of Seth's life may feel like deja vu to him, it's new to the audience, who don't realize they've been seeing only his self-serving perspective of Maxene, Lawrence, Becca and Bettina.

Without Seth's paintbrush to shape him, Lawrence morphs from a fake, calculating snob into a gentle, loving, generous and lonely man. Bettina's coldness melts into suicidal depression; Becca proves wise, selfless and maternal; and Maxene changes from domineering to doting.

Greenberg's script makes reference to the similarity between Seth's "Re-Enactments" and Jonathan Franzen's novel "The Corrections," the ultimately redemptive story of a 30something man who blames his failures on everyone but himself. Seth (who sees himself as the titular "injured party") uses his "Re-enactments" to redirect responsibility for his misery to others. Only when Seth finds his own self-worth and happiness can the characters in his artwork emerge as fully dimensional human beings.

Set designer David Korins sprinkles a few clues to the theatrical trickery along the way. Note how the apartment walls hang suspended in mid-air, like paintings in a gallery. And a painted canvas in Lawrence's apartment is jaggedly torn from its frame, as if the art has exploded off the canvas and onto the stage. And lighting designer Ben Stanton vibrantly fills the stage with an artist's palette of colors, from the gorgeous saffron of "The Gates" to eye-popping blues and yellows.

Greenberg centered "The Injured Party" on Christo's "Gates," a series of some 7,000 metal archways draped with saffron fabric that visitors were encouraged to touch, walk through and experience during the exhibit's 16-day run.

So it goes with "The Injured Party," which asks its audience to explore and examine its characters from different perspectives to find their own answers. Because there's intentional ambiguity in Seth's art, what's really going on in this play is open to the showgoer's interpretation. In other words, my impression of Greenberg's script may be quite different from that of others. And that's what good art is all about, right?

"The Injured Party"

When: 7:45 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; through May 11

Where: Julianne Argyros Stage, South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

Tickets :$20-$62

Phone: (714) 708-5555

Web: www.scr.org

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