From its friendly beginning to its trippy end, it isn’t exactly clear what LAB! Theatre’s production of “Under Construction” means to accomplish.
At times, the talented ensemble cast seems to approach something larger and deeper — only to have the performance crash up against yet another uncomfortable sex scene or misplaced musical number.
The piece — for the production is truly is a performance piece before all else — opens with actor David Hutcheson singing “Dear Hearts and Gentle People” as his nine cast mates move about the audience and stage shaking hands and waving.
From there, the cast moves through a wide variety of mini scenes and songs, confronting the tricky question of what has defined American popular culture from the 1950s to the present.
But the pop culture presented in the piece is almost decidedly alternative in nature. From poet Allen Ginsberg’s infamous 1955 poem, “Howl” to the lesbian pulp fiction of Ann Bannon, the cast presents the other, darker side of American culture while dressed in conservative, simple clothes that hearken back to the 1950s.
The set is simple — three door frames, three television sets and a range of props and furniture items that come and go as quickly as the actors — and allows the fluid cast to explore the topics at hand in a fast, frenzied fashion.
“Under Construction” is lucky to have a immensely gifted ensemble cast at its core. Trading roles and shedding costumes, the lively, likable cast holds the audience’s attention even when the content of the play does not.
Each member is given ample opportunity to hold court as narrator, dancer, singer or mime.
The piece has many faults. Some of the skits presented appear to have little value above their deliberate shock value, and in scenes like the first act’s surprising bondage-and-fetish bit, the cast seems unsure how to hold on to their light-hearted honesty while thrusting about with whips and giant dildos.
Occasional preachy monologues on themes and concepts can be cloying and often fall flat, though one suspects this is more the fault of playwright Charles Mee than the actors who deliver his ‘deep’ meditations on the human condition.
And the cast runs into trouble with choreographed musical numbers, clumsily rushing Frank Sinatra’s classic “The Best is Yet to Come” while playing baseball or tonelessly singing “Ma, He’s Making Eyes at Me” in formal evening wear while meditating on rape.
By the time the superfluous second act came to a close in a dizzy, lengthy ‘dance’ devoted to the wonders of community, the audience on opening night seemed more than ready for the piece to be done.
Director Jeb Brinkley clearly knows how to nudge a cast into pleasing, cheerful dramatic harmony.
One must wonder what this cast could have done with source material that they — and their audience — could truly comprehend.
Three out of five stars.
LAB! Theatre’s “Under Construction” runs through Monday in the Department for Dramatic Art’s Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre.
Show times are 8 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. on Sunday and 5 p.m. on Monday.
Admission is free.
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