BWW Reviews: PARADISE LOST at Seattle’s Intiman

Seattle's Intiman Theatre continues it's hit and miss streak with a definite miss with Clifford Odets' depression era epic, "Paradise Lost".  But after seeing this production I think it should have been titled "Two and a half hours Lost".

The show, set in the 1930's, centers around the Gordon family who is just barely managing to stay ahead of the depression.  The father, Leo, is co owner of a company making pocketbooks.  He lives with his strong willed, no nonsense wife Clara, and their three grown kids, the aimless former Olympic athlete Ben, the terminally ill Julie and the piano obsessed Pearl.  Add to that their friend, the know it all Gus and the furnace man Mr. Pike, whom I wasn't sure if he lived there or not (Just one of the many difficulties with the structure of the show).  Ben has just come home and announced that he and Libby, Gus' daughter, have gotten married.  And then there's Kewpie, Ben's shady friend who is willing to get rich no matter what.  Now with all of that going on and with all these varied characters, the show should be interesting, right?  Not in this production.

I think the main fault has to lie with the direction of the show or rather lack thereof.  Director Damaso Rodriguez seemed to have directed each of these characters as if they were each in a different play.  It almost felt like they each had separate rehearsals and then were thrown on the stage together right before opening since very few of the actors seemed to be connecting with anyone else.  It seemed most of them were only conscious of getting their lines out in the right order and waiting for their next cue line.  And even those cues were not picked up as quickly as they could have been as the pacing of the show was slow and plodding. 

Now there were a few exceptions to this experiment of not listening to each other.  Tim Gouran as Kewpie seemed to be one of the few actors trying to put a little life into the show with a fully realized character.  He was strong and focused and had a genuine arc throughout the show.  His final moment on stage was one of the only true moments in the evening.  Another brief shining moment came when Gouran and Shawn Law, playing the failing at life Ben, came to terms with their relationship and a "job" that they were about to go pull.  But these moments were too few and far between to stave off the lack of focus from the rest of the show.  There were a few other actors who were trying but they seemed to consistently paired up with actors who had not realized there was anyone else on stage with them. 

And where did this division lie?  It's seemed to be a geographical one.  The press release pointed out that there were a number of Seattle favorites in the show with a number of actors from Los Angeles who had worked previously with Rodriguez.  And the majority of the issues that I had with the acting styles came from the LA actors.  Apparently in LA there is no need to develop a fully realized character or really even listen to anyone else.  Just do your own show.  One notable exception was Eric Pargac as the sickly Julie who managed to turn in a stunningly heart breaking characterization of a man who once had a promising life only to have it robbed from him by illness. 

But do sparse moments of clarity and talent create an entertaining show.  No, not even when enveloped in the work of an American master such as Odets.  The production was unclear, sluggish and at two and a half hours (which probably could have been brought down to two hours if people had picked up their cues), just plain boring.  The Intiman of late has had a similar lack of focus what with the departure of Bartlett Sher and the transition to new Artistic Director Kate Whoriskey.  Here's hoping the rest of Whoriskey's first season at the helm is more engaging.  But we'll just call this production a faulty start.

"Paradise Lost" plays at Seattle's Intiman Theatre through April 25^th.  For tickets or information contact the box office at 206-269-1900 or visit them online at www.intiman.org.

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