By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
photo by Mike Sultzbach
Taige Lauren dominates the stage as Emma, a hopeful actress whose dreams of success keep getting thwarted by the demands of her addiction to drugs and alcohol in "People, Places and Things" by award winning Duncan Macmillan.
Whether or not you are disgusted by, or feel sympathy toward, those who become addicted to drugs and alcohol, the new TAZ Theatre Company production of Duncan Macmillan's “People, Places and Things” will make an impression.
At the very least you can appreciate the relentless struggles of such sadly shattered souls.
Macmillan the playwright also takes this opportunity to make some telling observations about the ambiguous nature of both art and reality.
Foremost among them is his insistence that reality is not necessarily factual. For the professional actor, when his pretending is praised for being “real,” the actor considers that rare praise.
Yes, the harder you pretend, the more real it seems. Stage irony, for sure.
Tucson theater veteran Robert Encila is the director here. On stage is a relatively new face, Taige Lauren, playing the budding actress and troubled young woman Emma. She will assume a couple of other names in her struggle to reclaim the real person inside her mentally scattered body.
Emma is psychologically poked and prodded by the hospital's nameless staff doctor (Susan Arnold). The doctor's role is to keep challenging Emma the professional actor to fight back against her addiction.
Emma also keeps saying the doctor looks like Emma's mom. Is this appearance a coincidence, or does Emma project her mother's face onto every female that must be confronted?
The heart of “People. Places and Things” is this continuous duel between Emma and her doctor. Their mind games branch out into dance rave scenes, hospital conflicts, 12-step type confessions, ego outbursts and other nose dives. There's also a lot of cigarette smoking and a little coke snorting.
The stage setting itself is an ever-moving effect of lightly tinted portable floor-to-ceiling panels and perpetually re-sorted arrangements of black boxes that represent various pieces of furniture. These abstract feelings are seamlessly effective. Encila. Arnold and Clark Ray share the billing for this unique scene design.
Ray and Richard “Chomps” Thompson also give energetic performances as other patients Emma meets at her clinic.
While stories of drug triumphs and failures are sadly common in today's culture, Macmillan doesn't settle for any easy decisions.
There are no winners or losers here. Addiction itself is a relentless foe that never stops trying to win. And even for those patients who won yesterday and win again today, they know it doesn't mean they will win tomorrow.
"People, Places and Things” is an auspicious debut for TAZ, introducing a theater company that intends to be taken seriously.
Macmillan's sympathies may lie with the addicted ones, but he doesn't let them off the hook. They are still guilty. What the playwright hopes is that we more deeply appreciate the difficulty of their struggle.
“People, Places and Things” continues through May 26 with performances at 7:30 p.m. May 23, 24 and 25 -- 2 p.m. matinees May 25 and 26 -- in the Scoundrel & Scamp Theater at the Historic Y, 738 N. Fifth Ave.
Tickets are $30 general admission. For details and reservations www.TAZTheatre.com
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