Match

Intimate story soars in small setting

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
By Peter Filichia/For The Star-Ledger

Photo by Jill Fischer

Beth Painter and David Christopher star in "Match," at the Alliance Repertory Theater Company in Rahway.

It's a perfect "Match" at the Alliance Repertory Theater Company in Rahway.

Stephen Belber's play "Match" was a Broadway also-ran in 2004, partly because it's a small story that got lost in an 1,100-seat house. The tale of three people, each of whom has an intimate secret, needs a small space.

It sure has one, upstairs at the Union County Arts Center. The new Studio Theatre there is smaller than most living rooms.

But Michael Driscoll hasn't done a small job of directing. His three accomplished actors bring the story to life -- and tears to a theatergoer's face.

While there aren't many men called Toby, there are fewer still who spell the name T-o-b-i. If that isn't a big enough clue to Tobi's makeup, perhaps some other hints will help.

When the lights come up, Tobi's apartment is filled with ballet posters and pictures. He, meanwhile, is seen knitting. The glasses he uses to serve drinks are embossed with miniaturizations of "Playbill" covers. He calls both men and women, "Honey," and punctuates a sentence or two with "Mon Dieu!' and "N'est-ce pas?"

So what happens when a cop from Seattle comes into his life?

Nothing good, of course, but nothing that an audience can anticipate, at least not for much of the long first act.

What's wonderfully satisfying about David Christopher's performance as Tobi -- and the way that Driscoll has directed him -- is that he never overdoes Tobie's effeminate qualities. Instead of landing on the obvious and presenting a raging queen to get cheap laughs, Christopher finds the essence of who this man is.

Tobi admits to being 62, and Christopher does well in conveying the age. When he's asked to read something, he glances, sighs, and then reluctantly and deeply ashamed, takes out his reading glasses. Notice, too, the little wince that comes just from getting out of a chair.

More than once, that cop, named Mike, is described as "the strong, silent type." Wayne Harris, a bulldog of an actor, certainly fits that description. The moment Mike meets this sweet Tobi, he's sour and dour. But Harris' glares get increasingly worse. One would swear that this policeman has been chasing a drunken driver on the Parkway for the last half-hour.

That sure gives Christopher a great deal to play against, for Tobi has been in the insular dance world so long that he doesn't see that a 21st century cop would be homophobic.

Mike won't stay silent for too many minutes, though. The tirade Harris unleashes proves that he's found not only the bottom of Mike's heart, but the center of his soul, too.

The third character is Mike's wife Lisa. She's come to interview Tobi for a Ph.D. thesis she's doing on dance in the late '50s. Having to be the buffer between this light-as-air type and an earthbound Neanderthal offers plenty of comic possibilities. Beth Painter amuses when she must keep the peace.

Lisa's opinion on both men shifts as the play continues, and Painter maneuvers around every swerve with great dexterity. She also gets a great second-act speech; Painter makes it moving and not maudlin. There's also a wonderful minute that Christopher and Painter have when they dance.

For that matter, all three share 99 other minutes that are just as effective.

Alliance Theater Strikes A ‘Match’ with Belber Play

By Susan Myrill Dougherty
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

RAHWAY – Alliance Repertory Theater Company’s director, Michael Driscoll, struck gold when
he selected David Christopher of Cranford for the lead role in the three-person play Match, which ends its run this weekend at the Studio Theater of the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) in Rahway.

Mr. Christopher, playing Tobi, and the supporting cast of Beth Painter of Westfield as Lisa, and Wayne Harris as Mike, are stellar in their roles. They take playwright Stephen Belber’s two-act play to new heights and make it soar. Tobi, a 62-yearold former ballet star, world-renowned choreographer and now dance teacher at Julliard in New York City, prepares his apartment for guests.

Because UCPAC’s Studio Theater is an off-Broadway-style space that seats 60 people, the audience basically sits right in Tobi’s tiny Upper Manhattan apartment as he scurries around putting out chips and wine. When he’s finished with the preparatory work, he takes up his latest knitting project. Next, Tobi clips his fingernails, saving them in a clear jar because, as he later reveals, it is a part of his “epithelial history.” He is readying for a visit from Lisa, a graduate student from Seattle, who is writing her dissertation on classical choreography and how it fits in the contemporary art world. She enters Tobi’s world with her husband, Mike, a somber chap whose eyes and actions reveal unexplained rage. Tobi launches enthusiastically into his life story, giving philosophical discourse on teaching and the history of his career, all the while throwing in double entendres pertaining to knitting and dance.

When the brooding Mike suddenly interjects inappropriate questions, the atmosphere gets tense, and Tobi, as well as the audience, wants to know the real story of who this couple is and what they want from him. As that real story unfolds, both the characters and audience members are taken on a scary – yet thrilling – emotional rollercoaster ride.

This is a serious play punctuated with hilarious moments that are strategically placed to break the progressively mounting tension. Director Driscoll ingeniously utilizes a relentless ticking wall clock as an echoing metaphysical conceit for the marvelously crafted show. Mr. Christopher, a master at characterization, has captured the essence of Tobi, a bisexual man whose flamboyance could have been overplayed. With precision and focus, however, Mr. Christopher lets the audience understand this lonely man and empathize with Tobi’s pain. Part of this actor’s genius is the seemingly effortless “business” he provides for his character without reducing Tobi to a caricature. Mr. Christopher proves he can toss clever lines with split-second timing and deliver dramatic discourse with sensitivity equally well.

Because Tobi has long monologues, Lisa, played sensitively by Ms. Painter, does a lot of reacting in this play. That can be tricky for an actress who is a mere 10 feet away from an audience that can sense her every move. Ms. Painter is up to the challenge of intimate theater with minute facial reactions and appropriate, slight physical variances to suggest shift in response. Her “breakthrough” at the end of Act II is perfectly played with a tender touch. While Mr. Harris’ character, Mike, is not on stage as much as the other two actors, when he is, his expressive eyes tell his back-story. Juxtaposing a deadpan delivery for most of his Act I appearance, his scenes with Mr. Christopher in Act II are explosive and heart-wrenchingly real. Match, a finely woven tapestry of careful characterization and unnerving tension, culminates in a can’t miss production that moves audiences on multiple levels.