*REVIEWED 02-12-10 PERFORMANCE

REVIEWED BY Mandy Rausch
ASSOCIATE THEATER CRITIC for John Garcia's THE COLUMN

Directed and Translated by Mark-Brian Sonna
Costume Design and Set by Alejandro de la Costa
Lighting and Sound Design by Mark-Brian Sonna
Makeup Design by Robin Daffinee Coulonge

CAST:

Petra...............Laura L. Watson
Juanito.............Rey Torres
Don Gonzalo.........Adrian Godinez
Doña Laura..........Janye Anderson

_______________________24 HOURS OF LOVE______________________

REVIEWED by Mandy Rausch
ASSOCIATE THEATRE CRITIC for John Garcia's THE COLUMN

MBS Productions is unique in the small but growing collection of independent and
emerging theatre groups in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area in that it, as quoted from
the web site, "specializes in exclusively producing works previously unseen for
the stage." The company, led by creator, artistic director, and namesake
Mark-Brian Sonna, has been lauded on several occasions for its innovative and
edgy (and often times risqué) productions.

Perhaps the company should continue to stick to its forte of adult humor and
bawdy subject matters, because its current Valentine-themed offering, 24 HOURS
OF LOVE, feels every minute as long as that.

The play, true to the mission of MBS Productions, combines the text from the
play A SUNNY MORNING, written in 1914 by Spanish playwrights Joaquín and Serafín
Alvarez Quintero and newly translated by Sonna, with material written as a
prequel by local playwright Alejandro de la Costa. This newly written material
builds upon the love story of two minor characters from the original play, and
enhances the original story by providing a contrast between young, blossoming
love and the love that can be found (or re-found) late in life.

Unfortunately, even with the clever and well-thought out idea of building upon
smaller characters in an older script, the final product fell short of my
expectations and left me a bit cold. Sonna's translation, while slightly
inconsistent in vernacular, is solid and the new text by de la Costa in the
first act is charming and eloquent, but there is little to no chemistry between
any of the actors onstage – a shame in a play about love. And not just any love,
but the mythical and elusive "love at first sight."

When you think of falling in love at first sight (if you believe such a thing is
even possible), you think of lightning bolts! Heat! Smoldering looks and
palpable tension! The attraction should hit like a ton of bricks or, at the
very least, a sharp prick in the bum by Cupid's arrow. This is especially true
for the younger couple, Petra (played by Laura L. Watson) and Juanito (Rey
Torres) – the minor characters from the original text, for those of you paying
attention.

When the play begins, we find Petra sitting on a park bench, crying. Juanito
discovers her, sees her despondent expression, and speaks to her. The two begin
talking, hesitating at first, and find that they have things in common, most
notably that they both work as caregivers.
Petra works for the erstwhile elegant lady, Doña Laura (Janye Anderson) and
Juanito serves the crotchety and set-in-his-ways Don Gonzalo (Adrian Godinez).

What should be the most romantic of settings—a park bench in Madrid upon which
the two young people sit discussing and reciting poetry—is instead a tedious and
drawn-out tennis match of poorly delivered lines and awkward staging. The two
would-be lovers walk in aimless circles around a small birdbath or sit and stand
at odd intervals; it is all very unnatural and makes the conversation seem
disjointed.

Torres does a fine job on his own as Juanito. He is handsome and confident, and
delivers his lines conversationally, effectively internalizing when necessary
and actively listening to his scene partner. Watson, while tall and lovely,
does not match the passion and energy of Torres's performance, establishing no
grounds upon which her character should suddenly be overcome by Juanito's poetry
and run from the garden in tears.

Sonna has given the two a few charming bits of staging when neither character is
sure of what to say next, but sadly it is not enough to make their love at first
sight believable or sympathetic.

At the end of the first act, we meet Don Gonzalo and Doña Laura when their
respective caregivers bring them on their evening walks in the park, both of the
young lovers hoping to run into each other again. While another meeting is not
in store on this particular evening, Act 2 begins the next morning when the
older characters are forced against their will to share the very same park bench
while their aides spend some precious moments together. During their banter,
they discover they just might remember each other from their lives years and
years ago.

Janye Anderson as Doña Laura is saucy and amusing in that uncomfortable way that
older people are when they talk about doing "it," and Adrian Godinez as Gonzalo
gives a valiant effort as the grouchy old man who believes most things modern
are crass and relishes the propriety of a time long since gone. One problem,
however, is that neither character looks as though they need to be taken care
of. There are few vocal or physical choices made by the actors that would
suggest that they wouldn't do just fine on their own.

Again, the staging is awkward any time the two get up from the bench during
their conversation. It is done without any apparent purpose other than perhaps
just changing up the stage picture a bit. There are also several asides as the
scene progresses, but it's hard to tell when they're talking to themselves and
when they're addressing the other person. Nothing is done in the staging or
vocalization to distinguish between the two, which is a bit confusing.

My biggest concern with these two characters is that Adrian Godinez is just too
young to be playing Don Gonzalo, a character at least thirty years older than
his own 29 years. In such a small space as the Stone Cottage Theatre, heavy
aging makeup looks like just that – makeup. Sonna justifies his casting of
Godinez in his Director's Notes, which makes him actually seem less confident in
his decision rather than reinforcing the choice he made to cast such a young man
with a much older woman. This obvious age difference makes the love story
between the two very hard to believe and borders on uncomfortable, despite
having two capable and talented actors in the roles.

The Stone Cottage Theatre is a lovely space for this type of intimate and sweet
subject matter, and the technical aspects of the production are done well. The
lighting design (by Sonna) is simple and effective in creating different times
of day, from a cloudy afternoon to twilight to a sunlit morning. The set design
(by de la Costa) is sparse, but uses a few good pieces to create a park
atmosphere, including greenery and the aforementioned park bench and birdbath.

The costumes (by de la Costa) are a bit too modern and occasionally
inappropriate for a play set outdoors in 1919, but they fit the actors well and
do not take away from the story so much as to make it distracting. I wish more
had been done with hair design, especially for the women. Anderson's cute,
blonde and flippy hairstyle was much too young and modern for her character; she
should have had a wig or a style more fitting to the age of Doña Laura and time
period in which the play is set.

It is a shame that such a clever concept falls short of achieving its potential
in this production, but I truly think that with stronger and more
age-appropriate actors cast in these charming roles, the end result would've
been a more successful one. Kudos to Mark-Brian Sonna and Alejandro de la Costa
for a valiant attempt, but I look forward to seeing them back in their element
with their signature productions of a more, as Sonna put it in his curtain
speech, "adult nature."

REVIEWED by Mandy Rausch
ASSOCIATE THEATRE CRITIC for John Garcia's THE COLUMN

____________________________________________________________________

24 HOURS OF LOVE
MBS Productions

Through February 20 at the Stone Cottage Theatre, 15650 Addison Road, Addison,
TX, 75001

Ticket prices $18–27; www.mbsproductions.net for more information.