CNTRL+ALT+DELETE
The Pear Avenue Theater presents
CTRL+ALT+DELETE
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Albert Einstein
The Pear Avenue Theatre is worth going to for the venue itself. IT is small and intimate and makes the theater you are seeing seem real. The actors are a stone’s throw away from you and are living their lives before your eyes. However, their
production of Anthony Clarvoe’s CTRL+ALT+DELETE tries to make some very good points about the world of investment and high finance, but it doesn’t do it very well. The fault is certainly not the actors’ nor is it the direction of this interesting attempt to prove to us that all the money we think we are making and all the projects we invest in are nothing but figments of our imagination. Director Vickie Rozell and her scenic designer Michael Palumbo make the most of the tiny stage and the rapid change of scenes in the script and although the actors are a bit intense for this reviewer’s taste, they stay in character and do their best to convince us that they are saying something that everyone doesn’t know already.
The action takes place in 1999, before the GPS, The Blackberry and the IPod. Eddie Fisker (Kevin Hsieh, a veteran Pear Avenue player) has managed to buy all the rights to an all-in-one hand-held communication device that he calls the gizmo. He presents his idea to Gus Belmont (Ray Renati) financial guru and moneymaker who picks it up and decides to run with it. Belmont is revered by the financial world; one word from him can send stocks plunging. He has just suffered a near-death experience and he is protected and loved by Marie (Lizzie O’Hara) whose real identity is part of the culmination of the plot. O’Hara steals the show for this reviewer. She is in tune with every character and every action, yet she never up-stages anyone. She is so real it is hard to realize that she is playing a part. Everyone lucky enough to see her should be grateful that she accepted this role even though she says the thought of it scared her.
The play is billed as a glimpse into the “hot-wired world of high pressure scheming and manipulation that accompanies a breakthrough in technology. The action takes us through the manipulations of the stock market, the selling of an idea that has yet to become real and the inevitable crash of confidence when the bubble bursts. They actors try to instill suspense and surprise into the script but it just isn’t there. The dialogue is filled with clever wordplay, but it doesn’t really say much. We all know about the vicissitudes of a stock market that makes hopes real by convincing investors of their potential. We leave the theater after two hours of watching all hysterics and histrionics of the cast saying, “So what?”
However, this production is saved by its pace and by its very loyal audience. The Pear Avenue Theatre is a tiny space where the audience is literally inches away from the action on stage. They have developed a loyal following and their season has great substance. Their choice of plays cover a wide spectrum of current topics. The 2010-11 selection is labeled “Americana”. Next up is No Good Deed by Paul Braverman, set in East Boston about an Irish gang war, and after that Arthur Miller’s never-fail-to-please classic Death of a Salesman. It is an ambitious season played to loyal and interested fans and one for all theater goers to watch.
CTRL+ALT+DELETE continues Thursdays-Saturdays@ 8pm, Sundays @ 2pm through November 21 at Pear Avenue Theatre, 1220 Pear Avenue, Mountain View. Tickets ($15-$30) 650 254 1148 or www.thepear.org.