Los Angeles Theater Review: TALHOTBLOND (Ruskin Group Theatre Co. in Santa Monica)

NOTSOGUD

Everything you need to know about Ruskin Group Theatre’s current world premiere production is revealed in the title: TALHOTBLOND: everybody lies online. If you are at all tech savvy—or for that matter have in the last decade read a paper or watched TV (Dateline: To Catch a Predator)—this news will be anything but a revelation. And that’s the big problem with the show. Even though it’s set in 2005, it seems dated and offers no new insight into the Catfish phenomenon.

Just in case you have been boarded up in a cave for the last decade, “Catfish” refers to a bottomfeeding internet crawler who assumes a false yet appealing alter ego hoping their new-and-improved identity will attract suitors—often with dire consequences. The term joined the popular vernacular thanks to the award winning 2010 documentary by Nev Schulman which then spawned a weekly MTV series.

The story is a fictionalized account of a real-life drama that was featured in a documentary of the same name by Barbara Schroeder. Adapted for the stage by Kathrine Bates, it tells the tale of Thomas Montgomery (Mark Rimer), a middle-aged husband who assumes the online presence of the young and strapping Tommy Marine Sniper (Ben Gavin) to woo the wiles of the tall hot blonde (Erin Elizabeth Patrick). Complicating matters is the fact that his internet dalliances have been discovered by his wife Cheryl (Kathleen O’Grady) and daughter Gwen (Julia Arian), and that his co-worker Alan (John-Paul Lavoisier) is courting the very same curvaceous creation. Things escalate and to no surprise it all ends badly.

Ms. Bates, who has had other successes (The Manor  is about to enter its 12^th year at the Greystone Mansion), exhibits no knack for conversational dialogue in this outing. The lines come across as stilted and unnatural and ring false at every turn. In addition she has built zero suspense, intrigue, or mystery into a cautionary tale that is supposedly building to an explosive and unexpected conclusion. It simply fizzles, leaving the audience to say, “Show me something I didn’t figure out in the first 2 minutes.”

Director Beverly Olevin walks the theatrical tightrope well, balancing when to have the online conversation spoken, when to have the ramblings projected on a screen, and when to have them spoken by the online manifestations of the characters. Unfortunately it doesn’t really matter since nothing remotely interesting or involving is said—whatever incarnation they take. The actors all have a tough go of it with only Ms. O’Grady and Mr. Lavoisier managing to rise slightly above the mediocrity. Rounding out the cast is Oscar Cain Rodriguez as Pete, the young upstart at the company. He is trying entirely too hard at “playing” snarky instead of simply just “being” snarky.

Jeff Faeth’s set, well lit by Mike Reilly, takes full advantage of the small space, dividing the stage into a kitchen, office, and the ether. Marc Olevin’s sound design is fine, but the mood music sounds too much like a 70s porno soundtrack and is not only overtly blatant but also a distraction.

The show runs an intermission-free 90 minutes, which is a good thing: Had there been a break there is no doubt the audience would have dashed home to surf the web looking for a better show.

photos by  Ed Krieger

TalHotBlond
Ruskin Group Theatre Co.
3000 Airport Ave. in Santa Monica
scheduled to end on April 26, 2014
for tickets, call (310) 397-3244 or visit www.ruskingrouptheatre.com