|
review The old maxim goes: there’s art, and then there’s entertainment. Art challenges the status quo and makes people think; entertainment reaffirms the status quo, and only makes people laugh and smile. This old maxim seems to say that art is serious; entertainment is funny. So, when applied to the theatre, drama = art. Comedy = entertainment. Deduction: drama is "better" than comedy. So, no comedian is an artist, and every theatre company should be doing O’Neill? Hardly. The reality is that in theatre, "art" and "entertainment" are inseparable. A play is not "art" in the sense that a painting is art; you need to entertain to put your artistry across. At the same time, an entertaining play is easily an ignored one; by bursting into art, it takes on a new dimension. The social prejudice of our time says that art is slightly better than entertainment. And you’ll agree if you watch Tom Jacobson’s "Cool My Tongue" at the Celebration Theatre. "Cool My Tongue" isn’t a bad play; it’s an entertaining one. Jacobson frequently writes entertainments. He’s quietly become one of America’s most-produced gay playwrights, and many of his plays are both funny and thoughtful. "Cool My Tongue" is a comedy about a serious subject -– the ex-gay movement, or "conversion therapy" -– and, as Jacobson noted in a recent BackStage West interview, the script turned more serious partly because Matthew Shepard’s murder occurred while he was working on an early draft. (It’s actually based on the "original concept" of film and television producer Jeffrey R. Coates, who has had personal experiences with the ex-gay movement.) The story goes like this: our hero Everett (Ed F. Martin) nearly beaten to a pulp by gay-bashers in Silver Lake, has been rescued by Taylor (the gorgeous Nic Arnzen). Everett has a crush on Taylor. But Everett learns that Taylor is a pastor for Lazarus Ministries, dedicated to the absurd notion of turning gay men straight. Since Everett was once a divinity student, you can bet sparks will fly. And as the story progresses, we deduce that erotic sparks may be flying between the two rivals. This core conflict has the makings of a terrific play. Unfortunately, Jacobson populates the rest of the action -– and the men’s therapy group -– with stock characters. (Michael Mosher’s cliched nerd/stud costumes sure don’t help.) Sex addict Stoney (Michael Bonnabel) indeed has a stony exterior, but inside is a heart of gold. Worthie (the very talented Nick DeGruccio) is indeed worthy underneath his shattered self-esteem. Jaffe (Alex Kaufman) is an observant Jew who provides irony, and Nydia (Maura Knowles), who is Taylor’s fiancée, exists primarily as a foil for the men. The play owes a debt to Terrence McNally’s "Bad Habits", with Martin playing what you might call the Nathan Lane role in the therapy group. The play’s funny; there’s no doubt about that. But while there’s some serious shit at the heart of the script, it still feels like a jokefest. Todd Nielsen’s direction imbues scene after scene with real grace, but the comic values take priority. We don’t spend a lot of time with Everett and Taylor as they question God, religion and their imminent relationship. We do hear an extended story from Stoney, telling us how he got blown in the back of a porn theater. It’s a very funny story. So is the one about how Worthie sucked off a dog in high school. But something more beckons to be explored. Occasionally, Jacobson aims for a higher plateau. Stoney talks about how when he gives blowjobs to strangers in bathouses, he feels "like I’m healing them." Whereupon Worthie chimes in, "Like Jesus." Okay, it may be a real stretch, but the audience is certainly doing some thinking at this point. Unfortunately, they’re doing another kind of thinking at the end of "Cool My Tongue": they’re trying to figure out what really happens to the characters. The tableau that concludes the evening is both inconclusive and reflective of a play that ends up trying to have it both ways. That’s actually the big idea of theatre: to have it "both ways" in a very special way, to provide art and entertainment on the same night. It’s damn hard to do. "Cool My Tongue" gets the entertainment part right, and occasionally veers toward that elusive three-letter word. "Cool
My Tongue", Fri-Sun through July 30 Copyright © 2000 The Write Word, Inc. All rights reserved. |