John Guare’s best known play, Six Degrees of Separation, questions the difference between chaos and control; anecdotes and experiences; and wealth and poverty through the metaphor of Wassily Kadinsky’s famous two-sided painting. While Signal Ensemble’s recent production in the basement of the Chopin Theatre captures one side of each of those dichotomies (quite literally as they never flip the painting over), its failure to portray the opposite of each causes them to miss the metaphor.
Signal Ensemble nobly tries to set the telling in the round, a must in the pillared basement of the Chopin, but a choice that contributes to the confusion of the piece. The actors’ constant motion coupled with the production’s over-accelerated pace undermines the age and wealth of most of the characters and results in the play becoming more of a farcical anecdote rather than a poignant, measured experience.
The crux of the story rests in Ouisa Kittridge’s (Susie Griffith) battle to find meaning in she and her husband’s encounter with Paul (Bryson Engelen), a young imposter. Paul’s fresh, youthful spirit charms Ouisa and her husband Flan and guarantees a business deal which allows them to live “hand-to-mouth on a higher plateau.” While Engelen does a nice job portraying an eager, educated youth, his alter-ego as a streetwise thief in the second act is a difficult pill to swallow. Though articulate and attractive, he hardly has the charisma needed to leave the audience wishing that he will actually turn out to be who he says he is and to warrant his lasting impression on Oiusa. His frenetic energy leaves Griffith seeming more like a desperate narrator than the wealthy wife of a Fifth Avenue art dealer. Relegated to narrator rather than protagonist, the audience is left wondering they should care if Ouisa wants to help Paul or not.
While its main characters miss the mark, the cast is rounded out with a fine portrayal of Flan by Jon Steinhagen, other well-dressed New York elites, and a group of their children who give great comic performances even if they border on caricature. The set design by Melanie Lancy makes the best of a difficult situation with some well-placed sconces and great furniture choices while the lights battle to make general lighting areas into spotlights for flashbacks and monologues. Each player is costumed by Laura M. Dana impeccably.
Regardless of its challenges, the production is often delightful and affords a night of quick-paced, enjoyable theatre. The main problem is that none of the actors seem at all familiar with wealth: the one thing Paul wants, the thing that Ouisa resents she has in the end, and something that most storefront Chicago actors know nothing about. Signal Ensemble will present Six Degrees through December 20th.
