Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Absurdist inquisition

The Birthday Party at New Fortune Theatre is funny, until it isn't.

Richard Bairde, Max Macke, Matthew Henerson in The Birthday Party at New Fortune Theatre - Image by Daren Scott
Richard Bairde, Max Macke, Matthew Henerson in The Birthday Party at New Fortune Theatre

The Birthday Party

  • Moxie Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Boulevard, Suite N, Rolando
  • $21 - $26

When a young actor, Harold Pinter needed a place to stay at a rainy, seaside town. A man in a pub suggested a nearby boarding house, but couldn’t vouch for its cleanliness. Pinter lodged in the “filthy” joint, run by a randy landlady and her docile husband. The man in the pub also stayed there. He used to play piano, he said, but gave it up. Asked why he hadn’t moved on, the man replied, “there’s nowhere else to go.”

Pinter wondered what would happen if two men were “coming down to get him.” To find out, he wrote his first full-length play, The Birthday Party.

Pinter never says who the two men, Goldberg and McCann, are. In effect, they’re the ubiquitous “they” responsible for all manner of evil. And “they” might even have picked the wrong house, since neither checked the address. No matter, they’re here to rain down on hapless Stanley, who once played piano — maybe, he could just be fantasizing about a more innocent time. He’s stayed at the boarding house since “there’s nowhere to go.”

Sponsored
Sponsored
Amanda Schaar and Matthew Henerson in The Birthday Party at New Fortune Theatre

Stanley recalls a piano concert he performed at Lower Edmonton to grateful listeners. But after that, “they carved me up.” The listeners? Someone else? He never says why, just that “I’d like to know who was responsible for that.”

Maybe Goldberg and McCann? Or the organization they represent? Maybe not. No matter. Stanley fits their profile. They perform an absurdist inquisition guaranteed to break him down.

People have fretted for years about who they represent — church officials, Mafia thugs, spy-spooks, state police, or today’s Men in Black? But identifying specifics misses the point. It doesn’t matter who they are (plug in personal paranoia here) it’s what they do — and how many candidates now fit that profile.

New Fortune Theatre opened its doors with a stunning production of Shakespeare’s Henry V. Honoring its pledge to stage the classics and classic contemporary works, the company leaps from St. Crispin’s Day, 1415, to an unnamed, English seaside town, 1958. The leap is impressive.

Birthday Party has earned the label “a comedy of menace,” since it moves inexorably toward a horrific showdown (Pinter said life is funny; then comes a point when it isn’t). The production has the menace down pat, but needs to shore up the comedy.

Especially the play’s Big Scene, where Goldberg and McCann interrogate poor Stanley. It’s cruel, verbal waterboarding, but it’s also a scream — in the freaky sense, since some of the questions (“Is the number 846 possible or necessary?”) and accusations (“You’re a plague gone bad”) are hall-of-fame non sequiturs. On opening night, the scene played so fast and loud the words blurred.

Richard Baird, who also directed, gives a brilliantly detailed performance as McCann, a psychopathic time bomb who tears paper for reasons unknown but somehow understandable. Though he has some fine moments as Goldberg, Matthew Henerson needs to lighten up. He steams and fumes with too much force for the character, the Moxie playing space, and what should be an absurdist vaudeville routine with McCann.

Looking like he slept in an alley and awoke to a nightmare, Max Macke does an anguished, and courageous, turn as tormented Stanley.

Amanda Shaar’s Lulu is naivete personified, though her green party dress and Marty Burnett’s otherwise-appealing set look far too new for the old boarding house.

Dana Hooley gives Meg more layers than a geological dig. Meg may be “shallow,” but her dreams and desires run deep. As her practically mute husband Petey, who utters the play’s most famous line, Marcus Overton makes much from little. Simple gestures and slight glances suggest that Petey’s seen this play before — and maybe even performed in it as Stanley.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Next Article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Richard Bairde, Max Macke, Matthew Henerson in The Birthday Party at New Fortune Theatre - Image by Daren Scott
Richard Bairde, Max Macke, Matthew Henerson in The Birthday Party at New Fortune Theatre

The Birthday Party

  • Moxie Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Boulevard, Suite N, Rolando
  • $21 - $26

When a young actor, Harold Pinter needed a place to stay at a rainy, seaside town. A man in a pub suggested a nearby boarding house, but couldn’t vouch for its cleanliness. Pinter lodged in the “filthy” joint, run by a randy landlady and her docile husband. The man in the pub also stayed there. He used to play piano, he said, but gave it up. Asked why he hadn’t moved on, the man replied, “there’s nowhere else to go.”

Pinter wondered what would happen if two men were “coming down to get him.” To find out, he wrote his first full-length play, The Birthday Party.

Pinter never says who the two men, Goldberg and McCann, are. In effect, they’re the ubiquitous “they” responsible for all manner of evil. And “they” might even have picked the wrong house, since neither checked the address. No matter, they’re here to rain down on hapless Stanley, who once played piano — maybe, he could just be fantasizing about a more innocent time. He’s stayed at the boarding house since “there’s nowhere to go.”

Sponsored
Sponsored
Amanda Schaar and Matthew Henerson in The Birthday Party at New Fortune Theatre

Stanley recalls a piano concert he performed at Lower Edmonton to grateful listeners. But after that, “they carved me up.” The listeners? Someone else? He never says why, just that “I’d like to know who was responsible for that.”

Maybe Goldberg and McCann? Or the organization they represent? Maybe not. No matter. Stanley fits their profile. They perform an absurdist inquisition guaranteed to break him down.

People have fretted for years about who they represent — church officials, Mafia thugs, spy-spooks, state police, or today’s Men in Black? But identifying specifics misses the point. It doesn’t matter who they are (plug in personal paranoia here) it’s what they do — and how many candidates now fit that profile.

New Fortune Theatre opened its doors with a stunning production of Shakespeare’s Henry V. Honoring its pledge to stage the classics and classic contemporary works, the company leaps from St. Crispin’s Day, 1415, to an unnamed, English seaside town, 1958. The leap is impressive.

Birthday Party has earned the label “a comedy of menace,” since it moves inexorably toward a horrific showdown (Pinter said life is funny; then comes a point when it isn’t). The production has the menace down pat, but needs to shore up the comedy.

Especially the play’s Big Scene, where Goldberg and McCann interrogate poor Stanley. It’s cruel, verbal waterboarding, but it’s also a scream — in the freaky sense, since some of the questions (“Is the number 846 possible or necessary?”) and accusations (“You’re a plague gone bad”) are hall-of-fame non sequiturs. On opening night, the scene played so fast and loud the words blurred.

Richard Baird, who also directed, gives a brilliantly detailed performance as McCann, a psychopathic time bomb who tears paper for reasons unknown but somehow understandable. Though he has some fine moments as Goldberg, Matthew Henerson needs to lighten up. He steams and fumes with too much force for the character, the Moxie playing space, and what should be an absurdist vaudeville routine with McCann.

Looking like he slept in an alley and awoke to a nightmare, Max Macke does an anguished, and courageous, turn as tormented Stanley.

Amanda Shaar’s Lulu is naivete personified, though her green party dress and Marty Burnett’s otherwise-appealing set look far too new for the old boarding house.

Dana Hooley gives Meg more layers than a geological dig. Meg may be “shallow,” but her dreams and desires run deep. As her practically mute husband Petey, who utters the play’s most famous line, Marcus Overton makes much from little. Simple gestures and slight glances suggest that Petey’s seen this play before — and maybe even performed in it as Stanley.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Best Sports Betting Sites - 10 Online Sportsbooks Ranked for 2024

Best Sports Betting Sites (2024) - Reviews of TOP Online Sportsbooks
Next Article

2024’s Best Bitcoin & Crypto Casinos – Play BTC Casino Games Online

Best Bitcoin Casinos (2024): Top 10 Crypto Casino Sites for BIG Payouts
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.