LOVE ON THE HALF-SHELL
‘Consider the Oyster’ at the Purple Rose
Made in Michigan comedy glimmers like a pearl
By Vivian DeGain
Published in The Oakland Press July 13,2011
As the name suggests, “Consider the Oyster,” a new comedy now playing at The Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, might arouse images of romance, sexuality and both the simplicity and complexity of life in the natural world. The scent and texture of the salty mollusks are prized as aphrodisiac. The smooth inner shell shines with iridescence and its lining, a treasure. But the exterior of the oyster is a tough nut to crack, gritty and abrasive with razor sharp edges.
Michigan playwright David MacGregor may have started with such images as the bedrock for his comedy “Consider the Oyster,” a World Premiere at the Purple Rose, but his dialogue and character development are fresh and delicious – and well placed in the able hands of Director Guy Sanville and the cast who have produced a sweet and salty pearl.
Set in a loft apartment in downtown Detroit any day now, “Consider the Oyster” opens with Gene Walsh and his friend Eliot watching football on television to see the Detroit Lions win the Super Bowl.
Capturing the glorious moment and wanting to preserve it forever, Gene proposes marriage to his sweetheart Marisa. It may have been an impulsive pass, but the young lovers are very happy together and she accepts. They are engaged over the protests of the game official — her micro-managing mother.
From here, a series of unexpected events befall young Gene as he becomes like a cork at sea.
He tumbles over the coffee table and breaks a leg. Science, in the form of the regenerative oyster shell offers a magical elixir to his healing bones. Gene’s friendship with Eliot, his role as a school teacher, and his impossible future mother-in-law all destabilize and nearly capsize his romance.
It this bit of a revisionist Frankenstein tale, Gene is no longer the captain of his own ship.
MacGregor surprises Gene and the audience with cross currents and rip tides, but his skillful writing and progressive plot keep us afloat.
Purple Rose Artistic Director Sanville directs this very worthy ensemble cast in the open-stage floor theater where actors are sometimes as close to the audience as can be.
The actors keep it close and real, despite moments of absurdity or even hysterics.
Michael Brian Ogden plays Gene with a sexy tension that rides along with every comic twist and tragic turn. His humor is physical, originating from the body as cleverly as his lines originate from his very smart discourse and timing. Ogden has presented excellent work this season both at the Purple Rose and at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre as an actor, a playwright, and as a character on stage who is a playwright.
Matthew David plays Eliot, Gene’s bedrock and best friend. His performance is as solid and as inspired as his role. Stacie Hadgikosti plays Marisa and the lovely Sarab Kamoo is Kay, Marisa’s mother.
Rhiannon Ragland performs as A Woman – and her physical humor is a match for Ogden. She’s a convincing misfit and it’s a wonder that she doesn’t break a leg in her virgin sail on high heels. She is outrageous as a gender-confusing, gender-regendered, gender-challenged Venus, arising like her myth from a clam shell, a goddess born as a full grown woman.
Venus, as painted by Botticelli, is grace personified with long and flowing auburn hair. Venus, as painted by MacGregor and Ragland, arises from the scratchy exterior of the shell, with a face covered in a mop of hair like seaweed on the sand.
“Consider the Oyster” is MacGregor’s fourth play to be staged at The Purple Rose, including “Vino Veritas” which will be made into an independent film (this summer in Lincoln, Nebraska) “Gravity,” and “The Late Great Henry Boyle.”
The crew for this Purple Rose production includes Dennis G. Crawley as set designer, Danna Segrest for properties, Sally L. Converse-Doucette for costumes, Reid G. Johnson for lighting and Tom Whalen for sound. Stephanie Buck stage manages.
“Consider the Oyster” is a funny, improbable romance, but a romance worth seeing and a summer delight worth the drive to Chelsea.
The Purple Rose Theatre presents the world premiere of ‘Consider the Oyster’ by David MacGregor through Sept. 3 at the Purple Rose, 137 Park Street in downtown Chelsea. Tickets are $25-$40. Performances are at 8 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with matinees at 3 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Call 734-433-7673 or visit www.purplerosetheatre.org.
